Segue
by Yanagi-wa
Summary: Bridge story, between The Price They Paid and Building a New Life. The guys leave Earth to heal and rest. Mostly sap


Segue Way

Betaed by Skippyscatt

Wufei opened his eyes and smacked his lips. They were very dry and he hurt all over. A straw tapped his lips and he gratefully sucked on it. The water was ice cold and delicious.

"Zechs?" Wufei stopped to cough. "Zechs? Are you there? The lights are too dim."

Heero's voice came out of the darkness. "Zechs isn't here, Wufei. I'm sorry. I'll stay with you."

"Un . . . Ok. I'm still kinda out of it. Going back to sleep."

Heero straightened Wufei's sheet and then settled in the recliner beside the bed. This was so hard. He missed Duo, Zechs had sent him a very short email on his personal computer. All it had said was, 'Duo in bad shape. Dr.'s say will know more in 24 hrs. needs nul grav to recover. Take care of Wufei. Tell 'I love you' for me. Zechs."

He wondered what the hell Relena was up to, to shove Zechs onto the shuttle like that. He knew that Duo needed someone with him but he thought it wouldn't have hurt any to give him time to get from the hospital to the shuttle. After all his Gundam could have made it in a few minutes. Now he had to make arrangements to store the thing until he needed it again. And he had to take care of Wufei, not that he minded, Wufei had taken care of Duo for him so he would take care of Wufei. But he thought Zechs would have been much better, Wufei kept asking for him.

Heero rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if he could sleep. Then he decided that he had to sleep. If he didn't, he was going to be too tired to be of any use. He closed his eyes and fell asleep. He woke several hours later when a nurse tossed a rolled up sock at him. He caught it before it hit the floor and sent a questioning look her way.

"Sorry. The police and some nasty man want you to do something with your ... suit. I made them wait until you looked like you were ready to wake up. Mr. Wufei will be asleep for a while longer." Heero gave Wufei a doubtful look. "Don't worry. If he wakes before you get back I'll tell him where you went. I'll stay right here until you get back. Ok?"

Heero nodded. "Yes, that will be acceptable. He doesn't do well if he wakes up alone in a hospital."

"I see. Um ... what kind of reaction can I expect?" The nurse looked worried.

"Nothing untoward as long as you don't touch him before he's completely awake. Call his name until he looks at you."

"I can do that. But, if you hurry, I don't think he'll wake."

Heero nodded and left at a fast walk. He knew that the nurse had kept whoever it was at the front desk. No one was allowed into the room unless they were cleared by Preventers. Une herself in fact.

When he got to the desk, he overheard one of the men. "I don't care who the hell the little shit is, I want that monstrosity off the parking lot. Now! Not in an hour, or twenty minutes, or when Chang wakes up. Now! It's causing a damn traffic jam."

The woman at the desk made a clucking sound. "Well, I'm sure it's inconvenient, but where is the poor boy supposed to put it?"

The other man spoke up making Heero grin. "Well, he can't put it just anywhere. I've found a warehouse he can park it in for now. But I can't tell him where to put it if I can't talk to him."

Heero walked up behind the men and just said. "I'm here. Talk to me."

Both men yelped and whirled around. Heero just looked at them, waiting for someone to tell him exactly what he was supposed to do. Heero labeled the men Grouchy and Smiling for now.

Grouchy started making demands the second Heero stopped talking. Smiling just stood behind him and smiled at Heero, rolling his eyes from time to time. Heero contemplated his new Gundam through the windows while he let Grouchy's natterings go in one ear and out the other.

"Are you listening to me!"

Heero allowed his gaze to drift over the man for a moment. "No." He returned his attention to his Gundam.

Grouchy grabbed Heero by one arm and tried to jerk him around to face him. Or tried to. Heero looked down at the hand on his arm.

"You like that hand?"

"Young man, I'm trying to talk to you ..." Grouchy stopped talking when he got a good look at Heero's eyes. "I ... you ..."

"I asked you a question. Do. You. Like. That. Hand."

"Well, yes, I'm rather attached to it."

"Then take it off my arm. Stop touching me. Stop talking. Go away. I'll move my suit when I have a place to put it. And not before. Excuse me."

Grouchy snatched his hand back, gulped and glanced at the nurse and Smiling. "You heard him. He threatened me. I'm reporting him."

Smiling snickered and glanced at the desk nurse. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Heero shrugged, smiled at Smiling and the nurse. "As Duo would say, 'Childish? Or just stupid.' when Mr. ..." He turned to Smiling and said. "Sorry ... didn't catch your name."

Smiling shrugged back at Heero. "Didn't throw it yet. It's Danforth. Frank. I have a warehouse about six blocks from here. You can put your Gundam there. It's empty for now and I don't have anything coming in that I need it for, for about six weeks. If you want it longer, maybe you can make arrangements to rent. I can't afford to let you have it for free for longer than that."

Heero nodded. "Thank you Mr. Danforth. I'll make arrangements with the local WEI office to pay you what it's worth. I thank you for your kindness and don't intend to ... toss it back in your face, but I'd rather pay."

Mr. Danforth put out his hand and Heero shook it. "That's nice, son. I like you. So, how you gonna get that monstrosity to the warehouse?"

"Walk it. As soon as I can so Mr. Grumpy doesn't ... er ... pitch a tizzy."

Mr. Danforth hid a smile behind his hand and turned to his companion. "Mr. Gunderson is a bit anal. He's grounds director or some such. The suit is attracting all sorts of attention, tying up traffic and making a couple of rather big holes in the asphalt."

Gunderson nodded. "Yes, it is. And I'm telling the police that you threatened me. I have witnesses. Now, move that ... that... thing."

Heero raised an eyebrow and sneered at the man. "Do you want me to move it before or after you have me arrested? And if I move it before, what makes you think I'm going to come back? And what cop in his right mind would let me near a mobile suit after he arrested me?"

Gunderson thought that through while both the duty nurse and Mr. Danforth tried to hide their laughter.

"I have witnesses. They both heard you." He pointed to the other two adults. The Duty Nurse just shook her head.

"I didn't hear anything. Did you hear something, Mr. Danforth?"

Mr. Danforth just gave Mr. Gunderson a blank look. "Hear anything? I thought I heard a mosquito buzzing around, or maybe it was a gnat."

Heero burst out laughing at the infuriated and chagrined look on Mr. Gunderson's face.

Mr. Danforth motioned to Heero. "Better come on. That friend of yours will be waking up for good and it won't do for you not to be here. Just follow the gold BMW Electro."

Heero grinned at him and muttered. "At least it isn't an antique reproduction pink Cadillac stretch limo." He shook his head. He never had understood Relena's fascination with fossil-fuel burners. They were ugly, smelly and a pain to maintain. And all that blather about simpler times didn't make sense either.

Heero rode the wire up to the cockpit, ran the check list and brought the verniers up to speed. He looked around, saw the car and took one step toward it. The car started into traffic and Heero realized that this wasn't going to work. He pulled his mic close and used the loud speaker.

"Mr. Danforth, this isn't going to work. I can't walk in all this traffic. Stop."

The car turned around and came back. Heero slid down the wire and leaned against the leg.

"Son, I'm a fool. I should have thought of that myself."

Heero snorted. "I'm a Gundam pilot and I didn't think of it. We'll need a police escort to get Neo-Wing to the warehouse without causing a riot."

Mr. Danforth produced a coin from his pocket. "Flip ya for it. Heads or tails?"

Heero called heads and the coin came up tails. Mr. Danforth muttered 'damn' and made a call. After Mr. Danforth made his call, Heero made one of his own. He only talked to the private nurse for a moment, but she assured him that Wufei would be out for at least another three hours, probably more. She also said that if Wufei woke before Heero was back, she'd explain it all to him again. Heero nibbled at his lip but couldn't see any help for it. He had to move that suit.

Mr. Danforth called Heero's name softly. Heero turned to see where the man was pointing. The black and white pulled up right beside the left foot of the suit and one cop got out. The other stayed in the drivers seat and Heero noticed that he was on the radio. Heero had to suppress the urge to either run or shoot someone. It wasn't as hard as it used to be.

"Ok, folks, what's goin' on?"

Heero pointed to Neo-Wing. "I have a place to store my suit. But Mr. Danforth isn't a good escort. I need you to clear the way for me."

"Can't wait until after rush hour? Be a lot easier then." The cop gave Mr. Danforth a companionable nod and eyed Heero for a long moment.

"Sorry. Grumpy Gunderson wants it off the lot A-SAP. He's making an ass of himself, as usual. Damn Quisling."

Heero flinched as the other cop came up on his 'blind' side. "Sorry. Dispatch says to get ... and I quote 'that damn thing off the streets as quick as it'll go.' Seems Traffic has been complaining about the congestion for hours. Every asshole and his dog wants to see the suit. People are circling the block ten and twenty times. So ... we move the suit."

Heero pulled a rather mangled scrap of paper out of his pocket. "And I got a ticket. Here." He handed the paper to one of the officers. He managed a peek at his name tag and smiled. "Officer Jones, I'm not sure that it's even a legal ticket. A suit isn't ... it doesn't have wheels. So it's not, technically, a motor vehicle. Is it?"

The officer looked at his partner who glanced at the signature on the ticket and they both snickered. "Well looks like Ticket Johnny is at it again. I'll see what I can do. Judge will dismiss it. Bet."

"What?"

"Two donuts and a coffee."

The partners shook hands on it and turned to Heero who was watching this with amusement. Mr. Danforth was smiling too.

"Ok, kid, where's the pilot?"

Heero just pointed to his chest with his thumb. "I'm the pilot. Heero Yuy, Pilot 01, Pilot of Neo-Gundam Wing."

Heero waited for one or both of the cops to say something derogatory but neither one of them did. Instead one of the men asked, "You know Barton? He was here for a bit."

"We all know each other. Now about that suit."

It didn't take them long to actually move the suit, what took the longest was blocking off the streets to keep the idiots from actually driving under the feet of the suit. It took eight cars to do the job, one at each end of the route and one at each intersection.

After the street was clear, Heero walked the suit to the warehouse, into the dim interior and shut it down. He rode the drop cable down and dug his cell phone out of his pocket. He called the local WEI office and asked to speak with someone who could rent the warehouse. It didn't take long for him to be transferred to the proper person.

"Hello, Mr. Yuy. I understand that you need storage for your mobile. Have you made any arrangements?"

"Yeah, a Mr. Danforth offered a nearby warehouse. I took him up on the offer. It's big enough and it's close to the hospital. There's even an office that I can sleep in. Will you see that he gets paid?"

"Sure thing. Danforth is one of our regulars. He's got warehouses all over and we use them a lot. He's honest and fair. Good man. Give me the address and I'll just put it on the list."

Heero gave the address and hung up. He turned to Mr. Danforth, who'd been waiting patiently.

"All set. The bursar said that he'd just add this address to his invoice."

"Good, good. But I think I heard you say you were going to sleep in the office? You can't do that. It's not zoned for it and I don't need the grief I'd get. I won't insult your skills or intelligence by telling you it isn't safe."

Heero snorted at that then grumbled, "Well, where am I going to shower and stuff?"

"Ever thought about a hotel?" Mr. Danforth gave him a slightly baffled look.

Heero gave back a blank stare then dropped his eyes to study his boots. "Frankly, no. I'll have to see what I can do." He glanced at his watch. "I better get back. If Wufei wakes and I'm not there, bad things could happen."

"I'll give you a ride. Come on. And while you're riding, you could call the Madison. It's two blocks up from the hospital and, while it's small, it's nice. Homey. And not real busy."

Heero did as Mr. Danforth suggested, he called the hospital and talked with Wufei's nurse again. She said he was still out of it and showed every sign of not waking up for at least another hour, maybe two. After that he called the hotel, using a phone book Mr. Danforth kept in the car to get the number. The Host was polite and said that they had several rooms in a variety of prices. Heero just said he'd take whatever there was. Mr. Danforth snorted. "Boy, if you leave it up to Harold, you'll wind up in the basement. He's not fond of teenagers."

"Don't care. Bed. Shower. That's all I'm going to need. Does the place have a good restaurant?"

"Sure does." Mr. Danforth maneuvered his car under the portico and let Heero out. "And you listen to me, boy. You got problems and don't call me for help, I'm gonna be real put out. Hear?"

Heero grinned at him. "I hear. Thanks. Good-bye." Heero watched as the car drove away then entered the hospital.

Heero settled back in his recliner and sighed. The private nurse had just left to get some supper so he was alone with Wufei. He examined his friend carefully.

Wufei looked pale and small. Heero sighed, he wished Wufei would wake up. He wished Zechs would call him. He wished Duo was with him. "Wish in one hand, shit in the other. See which one fills up first."

Heero dug his pack out from under the bed and pulled his lap top out of it.

Zechs stared at the doctor for all of two seconds.

"He what?"

"He partially severed his spine." Zechs grimaced in sympathy. "It's not that bad. It'll take stem cell therapy, physical therapy and time. But he's very young, disgustingly healthy and he's had all the pilot treatments and enhancements. He's still unconscious and we'll keep him out of it, in a chemical coma, until we get the surgery done. Then there'll be a significant recovery period, in which he's not to move around much. We'll probably have to use some sort of restraints."

Zechs just shook his head. "You can't. One, it won't work. Two, he's a gundam pilot, he'll freak out. Three, well, there's no three. Just don't let him wake up restrained. He'll hurt himself and everyone in the room. I'll just have to be right there to explain things to him."

The doctor sighed, glanced at his handheld and made a note. "I'll have to notify his next of kin. Who ... is ... um ..." the doctor's eyes bugged slightly. "Heero Yuy and ... Q.R. Winner? Not Quatre Winner?"

Zechs nodded gravely. "The same. I'm Yuy's representative. He had to stay on Earth to take care of my lover. I'm not sure why Relena arranged things this way but we have what we got,as Duo would say. So, first,I need to make two calls. I've been on a medical shuttle for ..." He glanced at his watch. "Six hours. And then two in the waiting room while you did ... what ever it is you do. How soon will Duo go into surgery? And what the hell is your name?"

The doctor smiled slightly, some people never got around to asking his name. "I'm Doctor Jackson. I'm a medical liaison. I can get information to you quicker than the old fashionedway of waiting until the doctor is done with surgery. So ...let me see. You'll want to get freshened up, sleep, get some food. The surgery isn't scheduled for about another day. He needs to be stabilized, have some blood transfused and a few other things. The surgery is rather delicate but not difficult. I'll get you a room in the relatives'wing." he tapped at his handheld for a moment then took a small memory chip out of it. He slipped it into a credit card sized carrier. "Here. It's a key card, identity chip and billing card. Get some rest, make your calls. You'll be paged the second Mr. Maxwell is awake, or goes into surgery. The doctor will leave a complete report on the computer in the room, you can down load it into your personal one at your convenience."

Zechs took the card, thanked the liaison and headed for his room.

He found it and swiped the card through the lock. The door opened to reveal an ordinary motel style suit in bland colors and inoffensive furniture. He sighed, it looked like heaven. He started stripping off his clothing. He'd been wearing it for eighteen hours now and knew it stank. He tossed it into a corner and turned on the shower, while it was heating he opened drawers until he found a hairbrush. He got towels out of the linen closet and dropped them on the commode.

The sample size bottles of shampoo and conditioner were barely adequate but he made do. After washing his hair he just stood in the hot water, letting it run over his body and drive the chill and cramp out. He wrapped a towel around his waist and two more around his hair.

He found a robe in the closet, after tugging it on he settled at the computer. First he ordered some clothing to be delivered. Then he sent Quatre an email, which was answered before he could complete his next task. The answer was short only containing the words, 'Coming now.'

Zechs nodded, he'd figured that Quatre and Trowa would be coming soon. Lastly, he downloaded all the information on Duo's condition, attached it to an email and sent the whole thing to Heero, Quatre and Trowa. Then he settled down to read it himself.

Relena eyed the elders of the Chang clan with a very displeased glare. "I don't care. He's not under your control. Don't push your luck. He's my brother's lover and I guarantee that you don't want Milliardo coming to speak to you."

The old man just shrugged. "I'm not afraid of him. He can yell all he wants."

"My brother, yelling, isn't a problem. It's when he gets quiet that you have problems. Exploding ones. And he'll get Yuy to help. And Winner and Barton. Maxwell is out of the picture for a while but you also don't want Shinigami on you. Deadly. Now, here's what you should do. Send him a very polite request for an audience. Then wait."

The Chang elder nodded. "I'll do that. We really don't want trouble. All we want is what the clan deserves. Thank you." he bowed and left.

Relena watched him as he opened the door, bowed again and left. "Wait, I hope you understand cold day and hell." she slapped the official petition with a stamp and snorted. "What the clan deserves is a good swift kick in the pants. Really."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes, deciding that it was time to quit working before she made a mistake, she got up and left her office. Her junior secretary came in and gathered up the papers from her desk. She'd file what needed filing and do whatever needed doing with the rest. She even took papers from the trash and shredded them. Some of them. Others she leaked to the press.

The papers she leaked this time were very detrimental to the Chang clan as they included plans to embezzle Chang Wufei's savings. She smiled slightly and sent a silent thanks to Lady Une.

Quatre looked at Trowa. "Very well, who's going where?"

Trowa shrugged, fished a coin out of his pocket and announced, "Heads you go to Duo, tails you go to Wufei."

Quatre nodded. "Fine,do it."

Trowa flipped the coin into the air and caught it. He slapped in onto the back of his left hand and peered at it. "Heads. Lucky asshole. That means I'm stuck with the grumpy brothers."

Quatre settled in Trowa's lap and hugged him, laying his head on one broad shoulder. "I know. But you're the strong silent type. Suck it up."

Trowa snorted into Quatre's hair. "Next time I see a spider, I'm screaming like a girl."

Quatre snickered softly and gave him a kiss. "Won't work."

"Damn."

Quatre sighed, straightened and glanced at his watch. "Well, we'll be at L2 in twenty minutes. We'll have to separate there. I'll go on to the hospital after I help you get a connection to the moon."

Trowa groaned. "There's no direct flights?"

"No, you'll have to wait long enough for a direct flight that it's actually quicker to go moonside first."

Trowa grumbled at that but agreed that he'd have to go moonside, which he hated for reasons that he refused to discuss.

Heero opened the door and peeked in. The private nurse looked up from her knitting and smiled at him.

"He's just beginning to stir. He should really wake up this time."

Heero nodded to her, settled himself on the edge of the bed and took Wufei's hand.

Wufei woke slowly but completely.He was still a bit muzzy, his eyes flicked to Heero then around the room. "Zechs didn't make it back?"

"No. There's an email from him. I got it at my hotel."

"What's it say?" Wufei closed his eyes.

Heero started to say something but didn't get more that 'I' out of his mouth before several doctors bustled in displacing him.

They buzzed around Wufei, taking pulse, temperature and blood pressure. Heero crossed his arms over his chest and glared. The nurse had just done that, it didn't need to be done again.

"Well, young man, you look good. Belly good..."

Wufei cleared his throat. "Enough. I'm fine. The surgery went well. Now get to the point. What next?"

The head doctor looked a bit surprised. "It seems we're a bit cranky." Heero winced.

"I am not cranky. Chang of Chang doesn't get cranky. I get pissy, violent, angry and other things. But not, thank you, cranky. I would like a quick run down of the prognosis for my recovery. My _quick_ recovery. I would also like everyone out of here except for Heero, my nurse and you. I'm not a zoo exhibit."

The doctor made a face. "This is a teaching hospital, you know."

Wufei started to sit up. Heero prevented him by placing one hand on his shoulder. He turned to the doctor. "I can remove them if you like."

The doctor sighed. "I don't mean that I won't, but this is such an opportunity for most of them. A real Gundam Pilot to examine."

Heero growled. "I'm a gundam pilot too and this is the outside of enough. Get them all out of here, now. It's outrageous. We're not experimental subjects. We're not teaching tools. We're real people. Boys who became men way too young and fought too hard to be dehumanized now. So I'd suggest that you get on with it."

The other people in the room had been shifting uncomfortably and several had already left. The rest eased out of the room at the head physicians'gesture and he turned back to Wufei.

"Fine. You're going to recover completely. The perforation was easy enough to repair. The ulcer was caused by stress activating a virus. We gave you an injection to kill that off. The rest is just eating right, taking it easy for a week and taking some meds for a month. Now any questions?"

Wufei shook his head, rolling it back and forth on the pillow. "No, I thank you. Please leave now."

Heero sighed. "Wufei, you might want to say thank you or something."

Wufei opened his eyes to glare at Heero. "I don't believe you. You, giving me a lecture on manners? Please."

The doctor smiled at Heero. "He is cranky, isn't he? Don't worry about it. Some people are just miserable patients. We're actually given lessons on how to handle people like Mr. Wufei."

"Chang! It's Chang. Thank you. Good-bye."

The doctor gave Heero a sympathetic look, his card and left.

"You are cranky."

Wufei gave Heero a disgusted look. "Can you think of a better way to make that imbecile go away?"

"Actually? No. Do you want anything?"

"Zechs,I really want him. I don't understand why Relena sent him with Duo and had you stay with me. ... Notthat I don't appreciate it. I know you'd rather be with Duo. And speaking of him. Now that I've been poked and prodded, what about him?"

Heero picked up his computer from the table and set it on the tray table. He moved the table over Wufei's lap, gave him a quick accessing look and decided that he was good for a little while longer. He activated the computer, accessed his email and opened the files. The nurse eased into view and asked if he'd like her to leave.

"No, stay, please. We might have questions that you can answer."

"I'll do my best. This friend of yours, is he a gundam pilot too?"

"Duo Maxwell."

"Ah!" The nurse settled against the wall on the other side of the bed from Heero.

When they were finished reading, and the nurse had thought they were just too cute for words. laying on the bed with their heads together reading the files on slow scroll. Heero frowned. Wufei frowned back.

"Well, he partially severed his spine. What does that mean exactly. The doctor doesn't seem to be really upset. So ... now what?"

They both turned to the nurse. She smiled gently and patted Wufei on the shoulder.

"One, you've been up much too long, Mr. Chang. You're drooping. Lay back and close your eyes."

Wufei started to object but gave up when Heero just pulled the extra pillow out from under his head.

"Very good. Now." the nurse turned the computer around so that she could see the screen. "I'm not sure how to get this to do anything. I've never seen one quite like it."

"Specially made just for me. I built it. What do you need?"

She explained what she wanted to see and Heero brought it up for her. She read for a moment.

"Well, the spinal column wasn't completely severed so he's very lucky. Getting him out of gravity and into the hospital on L4 was a stroke of genius. And sending him with a Peacecraft," She held up a hand. "I know, he says his name is Merquise now. But L4 is snobby and will bend over backwards for him, while anyone else would have trouble getting help for anyone from L2. I don't even want to get into it. Anyway, he's going to have a long recovery but he'll be fine in about six months if he follows doctor'sorders. Now any other questions?"

Wufei sighed. "Yeah, when are you going to shut up so I can sleep?"

Heero gave Wufei a fond look and nodded to the nurse. "I have a few but they can wait." he smoothed the sheet over Wufei's chest and grumbled, "Goto sleep, "Fei. You're grumpy."

Wufei snorted and fell asleep.

"Duo? Duo wake up. Quatre's here too."

Duo opened one eye and snuffled a bit. " 'M 'wake. Swear."

Zechs patted Duo's cheek gently. "No, you're not. Not yet. Open one eye."

"Got one open."

"Yes, but if you open one that means both are open. Progress. See?"

Duo snickered then groaned. "How bad?"

Quatre took over. "Bad, but not irreparable. You've fucked your back. It's going to take months to fix."

Duo heard a small gasp from Zechs. "What! I hate being lied to. Just ... how bad? Quatre?"

"Partially severed spinal column. You're going to need stem cell therapy. Physical therapy. And recovery time. Six months."

Duo snarled. "Six months? You sure?"

Zechs decided it was time he stepped in. "No. Depends on how your enhanced physique reacts. I'm more inclined to think four months on the outside. But I'm no doctor."

Quatre bit at his lip. "I'm inclined towards four months myself. And I do know. Now, Duo, go back to sleep. You're going into surgery in about eighteen hours. More or less. I want Zechs to go back to his room and get some more sleep. Call Wufei and/or Heero. I'll call too. So..." Quatre turned to the doctor. "Set up what ever needs setting up. I'll handle the bill." Quatre pointed at Duo. "You, sleep." He pointed at Zechs. "You, go. I'll watch Duo. I'll call you if anything changes. You call me as soon as you talk to Wufei or Heero. Now. Any questions."

Duo looked reassured in a way Zechs hadn't been able to manage. "Yeah. But no answers yet. Sleeping now." he settled back and went to sleep.

Zechs left the room, confident that Duo would be watched over. He returned to his room and checked his email. Nothing yet so he just flopped down on his bed, kicked his shoes over the foot onto the floor and went to sleep.

Quatre turned to the doctor. "I want him moved immediately after his surgery. Private room, round the clock private nurses and an intern on duty 24/7. And I want all this set up now. Understand me?"

The doctor started to say something, got a good look into Quatre's eyes and just nodded. He hurried out and Quatre settled down to watch Duo.

He watched for almost six hours then Duo woke again.

"Hmmm. Quat? 'M thirsty."

Quatre got up and poured water into a cup, stuck a straw into it and held it to Duo's lips. Duo drank about half of it then turned his head away.

"Thanks. Now, please tell me exactly what is going on. I don't trust that doctor, he ... gives me the whim-whams."

"Ok. You're here on L4, small private room. Zechs managed that much from the shuttle. You're going to need surgery soon. We went over this, how much do you remember?"

"Surgery, stem cell therapy. Physical therapy. Recovery time of four to six months. Anything I missed?"

"No. The surgery will be soon. I'm having arrangements made for you to have a better room and privatenurses. I'll try to get a call through to Heero as soon as you're really awake again. I've got your back, ok?"

Duo smiled. "Yeah, you an' Zechs got me. That's good. I'm still ... stupid. Too many drugs. I feel ... 'm goin' back to sleep."

Quatre fiddled with Duo's covers, smoothing them into place. "That's good. You sleep now. I'll take care of things. Ok?"

" 'M kay." Duo fell back to sleep again and Quatre sighed, it was going to be a long night.

Trowa marched into Wufei's room with a scowl on his face. The reporters were circling like vultures. "'Fei, get better quick, before I have to kill a reporter. Where's Heero?"

Wufei yawned and tossed his magazine aside. "Heero went back to his hotel to take a shower and get some sleep. My nurse went to get my lunch. Get me out of here."

"As soon as I see Heero and your doctor. I'll start making arrangements now. Quatre wants you to go stay with your clan." Trowa held up his hand. "And don't ask me why, he said he'd call you as soon as he knows about Duo. He's there, I'm here. Don't make me stay away from him too long. Ok?"

Wufei just nodded. He settled back to rest until Heero came back. He didn't have long to wait, the doctor, nurse and Heero all came back at the same time.

The doctor told Wufei that he could recover at home as well as he could in the hospital. The nurse agreed to go with them. Heero listened to what Trowa said and just shrugged.

"Why should he go there?All they want to do it take advantage of him. Want his DNA. So explain."

Trowa nodded. "Quatre says that all Wufei has to do is show them he isn't going to knuckle under to them no matter what. And what better way to do that than to show up and drive them all 'round the bend. Without even breaking a sweat." he turned to Heero. "You know what kind of patient he is."

Heero blinked, looked at a scowling Wufei and started laughing. Wufei gave them both an indignant glare. "It's not true. That's a total fabrication. Injustice, I say. Injustice." then he started laughing too.

The doctor didn't get the joke but laughed a bit then said, "See?You're well on the way to recovery. That would have most patients doubled over. Laughing uses mostly belly muscles. Glad to see that. I'll leave you to it now. When you want to sign out just go to the front desk." He left and shut the door behind him.

"Well, glad to see that done with. Now, my name is Miss Rodchester. I'll check over the paper work and we'll get you sighed out. Do you know where you want to go?"

Wufei wiped his eyes and sighed. "I'll have to hunt up the exact address but there's an enclave of my clan here on Earth. I guess I should go there. Trowa?"

Trowa nodded. "Got it. All I have to do is download a couple of files from my phone. How soon do you want to leave?"

Wufei just stuck out his lower lip a bit petulantly, "Now. Right now. If they want the Chang of Chang, let them have him. We go now."

Trowa exchanged a look with Heero and just dialed his phone.

They arrived at the compound three hours later. They'd taken ground conveyances which had jostled Wufei just enough that he was in some pain when they got there. Nurse Rodchester asked to see their quarters at once and got a dead cold shoulder for her troubles.

"Excuse me." Wufei wasn't asking a question. He fixed the man with a fierce glare. "I believe the lady asked you a question. Answer it."

The man turned red. "I'm here to greet The Chang not give directions to some woman."

Wufei raised one eye brow, Heero nudged Trowa and just grunted, 'Uh-oh.' Wufei went off.

"I'm tired, I hurt, I want to greet the elders then go to my rooms and rest. I won't be happy if I get there and my comfort isn't seen to. I have medicines that need to be made and the sheets are undoubtedly not appropriate. Now,I want things as they should be. Go."

The man stood with his mouth agape for a moment thenmotioned to Ms Rodchester to follow him. She did but cast a smug smile over her shoulder. Wufei just looked bored and slightly pissed. Heero handed Trowa a bill. Trowa smirked and took it.

The elders weren't far behind their minion, they nearly trotted into the open courtyard that comprisedthe entrance to the compound. Wufei glanced at them then returned to the contemplation of the moon gate that he knew would annoy them.

"Nice gate. A shame that it's oriented half a degree from true. But what can you expect from a group that doesn't respect the eldest of the elders as they should."

The elders all gaped at him. He returned the blandest look Heero had ever seen on the hot tempered man.

The elders managed to get their mouths shut and greeted Wufei with bows and invitations to enter, Wufei inclined his torso a bare degree and stepped over the inner threshold.

"My rooms? At once if you please. Heero, your arm." Heero held out his arm and Wufei gripped it firmly. Heero realized that Wufei's hand was damp and trembling. "I want to go to my quarters at once."

One of the elders put his life on the line by announcing, "You'lldo no such thing. We have a welcoming ceremony planed. We'll be attending that. Then you..."

Heero straightened up and glared at the man, Trowa loomed at his back. Wufei just raised one eye brow. "I'd like to see you make me."

Another elder hurried to smooth it over. "I'm sure you're tired. Couldn't you just give us a few minutes?"

Trowa snorted then snapped. "He's just come out of major surgery, before that he was in a gundam bleeding into his belly. Managed to finish the mission before collapsing.No, he can't give you a second. He needs to be in his rooms in bed, resting. Now."

Wufei sighed. He hadn't wanted to admit that he felt as bad as he did, but he assumed Trowa had some sort of plan. But for now, all he wanted was to liedown.

They were led to the quarters that the elders thought were appropriate for Wufei. Heero glanced around at the airy, light room they entered. It was a sitting room, through one side door he saw a library and the door behind that was an office. On the other side were three doors, all open. They all led into bedrooms, large ones. To the back of the sitting room was another door. It led to a huge bedroom with a giant curtained bed. This bed was turned down and Miss Rodchester was standing beside it.

Wufei didn't argue, he headed directly to the bed. "Heero, the next person not a pilot or my lover, who interrupts my sleep is to be shot, dismembered, dragged behind a car and tossed into a ditch. Not necessarily in that order."

Heero snickered. "Ooooo, and can I make nasty faces at them?"

Wufei chuckled a bit. "If it amuses you." He stripped off his clothing without embarrassment, he'd been naked before everyone in the room and Miss Rodchester had washed him. She handed him pajamas and turned to the bed while he struggled into them. Heero helped by holding his arm while he got his feet into the legs of the trousers. Trowa held the top so Wufei could get his arms into it without pulling on his belly.

Wufei got into the bed and settled down. Miss Rodchester handed him a glass and two pills. Wufei took them then scooted down to go to sleep. Heero motioned Trowa and Miss Rodchester to follow him.

They went into the sitting room. Heero turned to Miss Rodchester. "How bad?"

She didn't bother to ask what he meant. "He's tired and in pain. He needs to rest to recover. I'm afraid that the elders won't let him. As to treatment. I gave him some pain pills, he'll sleep a while because of them. When he wakes up, he'll feel better. If he can just liearound for a few days, he'll be fine. What he doesn't need is to be pestered by a bunch of straight laced, judgmental old men."

Heero produced his fiercest glare. "He won't be. If he needs rest, he'll get rest. I don't exactly understand what we're doing here anyway."

Trowa cleared his throat. "I can answer that. The elders believe that Wufei is eldest in name only. They need to see him for himself. Quatre and I both believe that just being around him for a while will prove to them that he can't be manipulated."

Heero snorted and announced. "I'd like to see them try. Stubborn doesn't describe him when he gets his back up."

Trowa grinned, a rather shark like, toothy affair. "Exactly. And he's already started." Heero just glanced at Miss Rodchester and shrugged.

She held up a hand. "I'm not getting between him and some old men. I'm on his side." She looked at their confused faces. "What? I read the papers. Idiots. Barging into a ball to tell him he's just a child. Can you say moron?" she settled back in her chair shaking her head.

Trowa nodded once. "I'm glad to see that we're all on the same page."

Duo couldn't help the whimper. He hurt, in capitol letters. He felt a hand touch his and turned his hand over to grasp the long fingers.

"Duo? Can you open your eyes?"

Duo tried but the light was too bright and it made him squint. "No. Light. Too bright."

The light dimmed and the hand returned, this time to touch his forehead.

"Now, open those eyes."

This time Duo managed to open his eyes. "Hey, Zechs. Thirsty."

Duo felt a straw touch his lips so he sucked on it and was rewarded with a mouth full of delicious cold water. "Mmm. 'K. Talk to me." Zechs didn't need this translated.

"The surgery was a success. Your spine will mend. But, this is interesting, as soon as you're awake enough not to choke on your own spit, you're going into nul grav. It seems that the stem cells multiply best and ... do whatever else it is they do, in nul grav. Something to do with it being closest to womb conditions that can be managed for a full size adult. So you're going to spend the next week in nul grav."

Duo smiled a bit blearily. "That's nice. I like nul. Fun. Still, bit fuzzy. More water?"

Duo got his drink and drifted off again. Zechs sighed, he wanted to be on Earth with Wufei. He wondered what Relena was up to.

He smiled as Quatre hurried into the room. "Sorry, he's drifted again. You want to stay for a while? I could use a break. I think I'm getting a little ripe."

Quatre smiled at Zechs. "I'll stay. I hated to leave but I had some arrangements to make. After you rest we need to talk."

Zechs made a face, those words usually led to hearing something he didn't want to. "Very well. I'll be back in ..." he consulted his watch. "Three hours?"

Quatre shook his head, leading Zechs to raise an eyebrow at him. "Take five or six. You should get some sleep. Then I what to fill you in on what Relena has up her sleeve."

"Well, that's nice. Why can't you do it now?"

"Because you're exhausted and I don't want you getting nuts on me. It's nothing bad, just ... you probably won't like it. So go rest."

Zechs gave Quatre a look. "And you expect me to rest now? You're demented. Zero rotted your brain."

Quatre just raised an eyebrow at Zechs who flushed. "I'm sorry. I'm too tired to have this conversation but now that this particular can of worms is open, you can't stuff them back, and I won't get a moments rest until I know what's up."

Quatre sighed. "I'm tired too. I'm not usually this ... inept. Well, Relena has had heavy hints that a marriage between you and a certain young lady would be very advantageous. She's not interested in the political connections and rather than have to indulge in some very tiresome maneuvering, she chose to remove the ... ahem ... temptation."

Zechs just dropped his cheek into his palm. "What part of taken ... gay ... not interested ... and go away don't they understand? Well, that answers that. Thank you. Good night."

Zechs walked out the door, braid swaying.

Wufei woke to a nightingale twittering in the tree outside his window. It was soothing and he just lay in the bed resting and feeling his body out. He was still sore, his belly especially. He also felt restless. He knew it was a sign that he was healing, but it was still irritating. He really wanted to just rest for a while. That would be good. The constant strife of taking care of Duo, then Zechs as well as completing his schooling and doing his job in WEI had taken it's toll. His nerves were shot. Thus the ulcer.

Deciding that he'd had enough lying in bed, Wufei tossed the covers aside and eased out of bed. He grumbled a bit as his shaky legs wanted to collapse with him. He clung to the bed post for a moment then decided that he was going to do the smart thing.

"Heero! Trowa? Someone."

Heero stuck his head in the door. "You bellowed? What?"

Wufei felt his face redden. "I need the toilet. Soon. But my legs are shaky enough that I don't want to try to cross that slick floor on my own."

Heero hurried across the giant room and just offered Wufei his arm. "Good. Not that you need the ... well, yes good. Means your kidneys are working right."

Wufei made a face. "And my bowels. This is not going to be pleasant."

Heero returned a sympathetic face of his own. "Do you want me to call Miss Rodchester?"

Wufei thought for a moment. "She's sleeping, isn't she?" Heero nodded. "Let her sleep. If things go well we won't need her. If they don't, she's easy enough to wake."

"Ok. I'll hang around out here. If you need me, shout. Ok?"

Wufei sighed, nodded and went into the bathroom. He accomplished what he needed to and emerged to give Heero a rather shamefaced look.

"Mission accomplished. But don't go in there for a while."

Heero laughed softly. "How do you feel?"

"Not shaky anymore. Restless. Tai Chi?"

Heero thought for a moment. "Sure. Short form and take it easy. We've got nothing to prove."

Wufei nodded and started on the form. Heero kicked off his shoes and joined him.

It went well, Heero kept an eye on Wufei as they moved through the graceful forms. Wufei finished, breathing easily, a light dew of sweat on his forehead.

"Good. Heero, I feel good. That went well." He probed his abdomen gently. "Not sore. The incision is already sealed."

Heero handed Wufei a bottle of water. "Drink half ... you look good. Moved easily. Any unusual stiffness?"

"No. Thanks." Wufei drank the water as Heero had commanded him, only raising one eyebrow. "Bossy."

Heero grinned. "Maybe. Now, what are we going to do about the pushy old farts?"

Wufei frowned. "Depends on them. They push, we push back harder. So it depends on who starts what."

"I see. And ... I've heard some rumors I don't like. Trowa filled me in on them while you were sleeping. It might cause you some trouble."

Wufei just waited for Heero to continue. It took him a bit, Wufei sat patiently while Heero arranged his thoughts.

Heero drew a deep breath, preparing to explain, just as he started to speak the door opened and Trowa came in followed by Miss Rodchester.

"Starting without me? I'm crushed." Trowa plunked the tray he was carrying on the coffee table and settled in a chair.

The tray contained enough bacon, eggs and toast for all of them. Wufei glanced at Miss Rodchester.

"It's ok. As long as you've moved your bowels." Wufei flushed but nodded. "Good. So, eat."

They served their own plates and Miss Rodchester took charge of the tea pot.

Heero waited until they were all mostly done with their food.

"Ok. It seems that someone ... no one is sure exactly who yet ... decided that I'm in possession of military hardware and need to turn it over to ESUN in the person of Preventers."

Wufei sipped at his tea. "Well, turn it over and be done with it."

Heero looked at Trowa who shrugged. "Well, the only problem with that is ... he's the hardware. Some fool wants Heero to turn over his enhancements."

Miss Rodchester shuddered. "That's going to be interesting."

Wufei shook his head. "No, it's not. He's under my protection as the Head of the Chang Clan. I'd like to see them try."

Trowa smirked. "I don't know who is behind this, but I've got news for them. WEI owns all the patents and copyrights."

Heero snickered. "Oh, man. Duo's gonna be pissed."

Trowa raised one eyebrow and Wufei choked on his tea. Miss Rodchester looked puzzled. "Excuse me?"

Heero sipped his tea, allowing the suspense to build. "That means that WEI effectively owns me."

Trowa nodded. "And I'd like to see some brass hat screw around with Quatre."

Wufei thought for a moment. "I'll see if one of the elders can't set up a meeting with the initiator of this ... idiocy. We'll see what is really going on and take it from there."

Wufei sent for the elder next in line to him. The man showed up with astonishing rapidity and bowed carefully.

"You sent for me?"

Wufei sniffed arrogantly. "I suppose I did. What is your name?"

"Chang Ming Dou."

"Shidoshi." Wufei commented calmly.

"Excuse me. I'm not entitled to that form of address."

Wufei curled his lip and said very softly. "But I am." his look made Ming Dou flinch."

"So sorry, Shidoshi. What can I do for you?"

Wufei explained the situation ending, "...AndI have absolutely no intention of allowing some military moron butcher my friend. So set it up so that the man or men or whoever are properly impressed with the power of the Chang clan. Understand?"

"Yes, shidoshi, I do."

He left and nothing more was heard from him for the rest of the day.

Wufei worked out again and felt even better. Heero had to smile at Trowa as they watched him move through the forms with his usual fluid grace. They were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

When it did it was just sad. The entire Council of Elders came into Wufei's quarters, bowed and started in.He listened to them complain about his lack of dignity, his refusal to get married, his absolute refusal to head the council and a number of other things.

"Very well. I'll head the Council. In that capacity, I refuse to wed. I'm a homosexual. I refuse to subject a woman to the indignity of knowing that her husband doesn't love her. It's an abomination. I change the rules. The heir does not have to be a child of the present heir. Write it down." Asubtly smiling scribe did so."Two, my dignity, or lack there of, is not your place to question. As Head of Clan Chang, if I choose to dance naked on a table it's dignified. Dare to say otherwise." Wufei produced a Glock .10 MM slug thrower from somewhere in his robes. "Please." Noone said a thing. "And now you see why I'm not fit to head the council. My temper is uncertain at best. The war, you see. I tend to settle things with force. So, elect a new head of the council. That's my advice or put up with me. Decide."

The council was very silent and very pale. The eldest hesitated then asked if they could retire, consult and reconvene at Wufei's pleasure. Wufei allowed that that could be a very good idea. He settled back against his pillows and smirked at them as they filed out.

Trowa promptly burst into laughter. "Well, that settled that. You want to make a bet on how long you last?"

Wufei returned a smug expression. "Just long enough to handle Heero's problem. I'll put them off a bit if I have to."

Heero just asked. "Where the hell did you hide that cannon in those soft robes?"

"And where the hell did you hide a similar cannon in that spandex?"

"Trade secret."

"Pill."

They shared a laugh over that and settled to their amusements.

Heero to his lap top where he emailed Duo, Milliardo and Quatre. Trowa to a book. And Wufei,still settled on what was amusingly enough called a fainting couch, with a scroll of Chinese poetry.

In three days Wufei was back to normal, Miss Rod, as they'd taken to calling her, sent on her way with thanks and the meeting looming over them.

Wufei gave the current irritation a feral glare and announced. "No, I don't want semi-formal robes. I want the full formal Chang Clan robes with hat and jade button. Now go away and get them." The valet bowed several times and tried hard not to drip sweat on the very fine semi-formal red brocade robes. He scurried out the door and disappeared down a hall.

Heero frowned. "I'm not really familiar with Chinese robes. Those looked pretty formal to me."

Wufei grinned at Heero and Trowa. "The formal robes are black, decorated with edging of gold braid and lined with red satin. They're split up the sides to the hip to show off the trousers, which are black, embroidered with the Chang Crest, caught at the ankles with buttons of coral. It's all written out somewhere or other. I remember distinctly being caned because I couldn't recite it from memory. I had to write it out one hundred times. I will not be trifled with."

Heero nodded. "And what am I supposed to wear? And Trowa?"

Wufei thought he'd made it clear but he repeated himself. "You will wear a business suit. As will Trowa I thought I said that."

Trowa nodded. "Heero, he did. I remember. We were arguing, about what I don't remember, something on the news and he said, 'Oh, before I forget, I hope you two have good suits.' I do. Heero?"

Heero sighed. "Now I remember. I have several suits at Zechs's place. I'll send for them. In fact we all ought to send for everything. We're gonna be here for a while. Right, Wufei?"

Wufei shrugged. "I don't know. I'd really rather go off and help Quatre build that colony. I'm sure not sticking around here and trying to rule this bunch of stuffed shirts. They're already making me crazy. I really want away from here." he gave Trowa a suspicious glare. "And what are you snickering at?"

"I had a bet with Quatre on how long it'd take you to dump this whole mess. I win. Quatre figured you'd stick it out longer."

Wufei stuck his nose in the air. "And why should I grace this bunch of idiots with my brilliance any longer than needful. I have to take care of Heero's problem before we can get off this ball of mud. That's the only reason I'm still here."

Heero sighed. "I checked. I can't leave Earth. Relena said she'd fixed this but here I am, stuck again. Fuck." it was the first time Heero had let his frustration show and Trowa moved to pat him on the shoulder.

"It'll be ok. Quatre knows about it. I thought sure Relena would have sent an email at least."

Wufei frowned. "It's not like her at all. Do you think that she might not know?"

Heero thought for a second. "Let's give her a call. It can't hurt. If she knows, maybe she'll explain. If she doesn't know. ... oh, shit!"

Wufei took in Trowa's wide eyed look. He glanced at Heero who had a decidedly deer in the headlights look in his eyes.

"I do believe 'oh, shit' is not at all adequate. I'll place the call."

Relena glanced up from her papers as her private line blinked and beeped. She reached over and pushed the button.

"Yes?"

"Relena, Wufei here, along with Heero and Trowa. You decent?"

Relena tapped the button that turned on the camera. "Yes, I'm in my office. The time difference, remember. It's not quite noon here."

"Yes, of course. It's about ... 9:15 AMhere."

"Guh! Cold coffee. I know better than to drink without checking. Sorry."

Wufei smiled at Relena's disgusted expression. "Have Dorothy bring in a new cup. You're not going to like this. But ... if you already knew, I'm going to be ... pissed will not cover it."

Relena shook her head. "I got Milliardo off planet because there's a faction that wants to marry him to some horse faced young thing. Think he'll be easier to manipulate. Or something. I shipped him off with Duo to get him away without having to make a big thing. Or is it something else?"

Heero nodded to himself, he'd known there was a good reason Relena wanted Zechs off planet quickly. Wufei gave Trowa a knowing glance.

"That's nice to know but not the problem I'm speaking of. Did you know that Heero's travel papers have been voided?"

Relena blinked, turned pale then alarmingly red and snarled, "I didn't. But I'll look into it right now. I'll call you back within the half hour. Good-by."

She signed off with a decided snap.

Wufei smirked at Heero and held out a hand to Trowa. Trowa dropped a bill into it and sighed. "Well, that tears it. You're going to have to ..."

Wufei held up a hand. "I'm going to enjoy tearing someone a new asshole."

Heero just leaned against the wall and scowled at his feet.

Relena took exactly half an hour to call back. "I'll be brief. Several generals didn't check to see more that the fact that Heero was used as a test subject by J. They found out through summaries of documents. They don't want to understand that Heero can't just hand the enhancements over. I know you're people have been trying to set up a meeting and have been stonewalled. I set it up for you." Wufei frowned, he'd thought that the meeting was a done deal. "Do you want me to attend?"

Wufei smiled in a rather unpleasant fashion. "Please do. I'm dressing Chinese 'lord of the manor'formal. Silk brocade, jade button, the whole works."

Relena dimpled, "Then I'll be dreadfully under dressed. I'm wearing a power suit and pearls."

Wufei bowed his head slightly. "I'm sure you'll look delightful. Heero and Trowa are both wearing Armani ... and arms ... lots and lots of artillery."

Relena cooed, 'Ooooo, goody.' and hung up.

She went to her quarters and told her dresser to get her grey pinstripe suit, the one with the lighter grey strips. And her black pearls. Then she dug out a comfortable sweat suit and changed into it.

The dresser did as she was told. Moving quickly but quietly, she packed the suit, blouse, shoes and other accessories into a suit bag. She could tell that Miss Relena was in a temper. She wondered what idiot had stepped wrong this time, handing the suit bag and attendant carryon to the waiting security she shook her head.

Relena called for her car and headed for the shuttle port. She had a flight ahead of her and decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. She was glad she'd taken time to change into a sweat suit so she could relax until the plane got to its destination.

Wufei met her at the airport in full cry. His body guards were huge and accompanied by Trowa and Heero in full WEI security/military garb. It was a production that would have made any dictator proud. Relena just raised an eyebrow, smiled pretty for the cameras and hopped into the limousine.

The drive didn't take long and Heero accompanied Relena right to the door of her quarters. Trowa stayed with Wufei.

Relena changed with the help of a solemn young girl. After she was done changing into her suit, Relena followed the girl to the audience chamber. She had to gawk a bit, it was lush even by her standards.

The Chang Clan had been rich before the colonyself-destructed, it seemed that they still were. In fact, Relena wouldn't put it past the richest and most powerful to have managed to be off colony when itself-destructed. Along with most of the colony's liquid wealth.

The room was an exact copy of the ancient Chinese Forbidden Palace. It was gilded, and painted and lushly beautiful. Relena walked up to the dais, upon which were placed two chairs, side by side. One for herand one for Wufeishe assumed.

She climbed the three steps and touched one of the chairs.

"That one's mine the other is yours." Relena jumped. "Sorry. These slippers are chamois soled."

Relena settled in the chair Wufei pointed to and laughed, her feet dangled eight inches off the floor. "This won't do."

Wufei sat in the other chair and his feet dangled too. He simply motioned to someone in the shadows. A man hurried forward with two stools and put one down for each of them. Wufei put his feet on the stool with a sigh.

"This is going to be either boring as hell or way too exciting."

Relena nodded, settling herself more comfortably. "Too true. How's Heero taking this?"

"Not well. He's really pissed. We were promised things. Now ESUN is trying to take them back."

Relena shook her head. "No, not ESUN. People. I've taken care of Heero's travel papers. And made sure that all of you have iron clad permanent passports. But we still have this military crapola to take care of. I don't know what they are thinking."

Wufei frowned. "I wonder. I've seen some of the summaries that show up. The summarized versions don't resemble the original document at all. When I sent my original demand for a meeting, I suggested that the generals in question read the originals in question and then question the scientists carefully. There's something going on that we're not aware of. ESUN is very strict about vivisection and human experimentation so the suggestion that they be allowed to dissect Heero is ... unusual, to say the least. I really want to know exactly what is going on."

Relena nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry I was so distracted by that ass ... never mind. We'll get it all sorted."

Wufei straightened his robes and smirked, "we certainly will."

Relena smirked back. "You bet."

A door at the side of the room opened and Heero and Trowa came in. Relena's jaw dropped. She'd seen Heero in a tux and that was drool worthy, but Heero and Trowa in black Armani striding into the room in step? She didn't think she'd actually been hit in the head but it felt like it. "Oh, my!"

"Indeed."

Trowa and Heero split, Heero going to Relena's side Trowa to Wufei's.

The front doors of the throne room opened and all the elders filed in. They ranged themselves down both sides of the room from the edge of the dais to halfway down the room. They drew themselves up into dignified ranks.

The doors opened again about two minutes later. Three generals and two scientists entered, blinking and glancing around in dismay. It was obvious that they'd expected something completely different from what they saw.

Wufei called out with all the arrogance of a hundred generations of Chang's behind him, "Come forward and explain yourselves."

One of the generals spoke out. "Now see here. We're here to see the Eldest of the Eldestof the Chang Clan. Chang Wufei."

"That is I. Now, speak. What makes you think that I'll allow anyone under my protection to be abused by you?"

One of the scientists abruptly recognized Heero and hissed, "That's him. That's the test subject. Yuy. Get them to turn him over to us."

The four-stargeneral who was obviously the spokesman turned and spoke out loud. "Will you shut up. I don't need you interrupting every two seconds. We'll get him to turn over the prototypes and answer all your questions and that's the end of it."

Heero looked at the general then the other men. The Highest ranking General was the spokesman, with four stars, the other two generals were both three-star. The scientists were both the starry-eyed, ivory tower type that all practical people despised. All three generals looked irritated just from being in their company.

Wufei eyed the scientists with a jaundiced eye. He was sure that they had more in mind for Heero that a quick twenty questions and a demand for paperwork. Relena was even more suspicious, she was sure they were up to something underhanded.

Heero stepped forward and eyed the group, Trowa took a step forward too. Relena smiled and tapped Wufei on the hand. All three generals had taken several steps backwards as they recognized Heero and Trowa. Then they glanced at Wufei.

"Excuse me, Chang ... er ... Sama? I'm not sure. We weren't briefed. May we have a moment?"

Wufei bowed slightly. "Mr. Chang will suffice. Sama is Japanese, not Chinese. Take all the time you like."

Relena gave a little sniff. "I wouldn't have given them any time. Coming to a meeting unprepared. Not something I would tolerate.

Wufei gave her a slight smile. "But I expected them to be unprepared. They are dealing with scientists after all. I pity them. Get the military involved with some of those starry-eyed weirdos and there's always trouble. Usually because the scientists don't tell the military everything. And the military play their cards close to the chest too. Real mess. We'll just have to have patience until they sort themselves out." He motioned to a servant standing behind one of the lines of elders. He hurried forward. "Tea. For everyone." The servant nodded and clapped his hands. Servants poured out of the doors behind the dais and offered small tea cups to everyone, including Trowa, Heero and the generals and scientists. Everyone accepted except the scientists and one of the generals.

The four-star threw up his hands and announced, "Fine, that's it. I'm out of this. You're up to something I'm sure is illegal. You can't just demand that boy submit himself to batteries of tests just because you say so."

Relena cleared her throat. The general turned to look at her and finally got his head out of his ass. Relena smirked at him then turned to Wufei. "I think they are finally realizing that we don't accidentally resemble ourselves." Wufei gave her a puzzled look. "I get it all the time. People are always telling me I look exactly like Relena Peacecraft." Wufei snickered then nodded.

Two of the generals were now standing aside, one general and both scientists were right in front of the dais waiting to be recognized. Wufei inclined his head just enough that everyone realized that he was giving the group permission to present their case. All the elders brightened.

One scientist stepped forward, gave Wufei a condescending smile and started right in. "Well, young man, I'm sure you don't realize the importance of our research. So ... the subject, J-01 well, his designation is just a jumble of letters and numbers. He is the repository of a dozen or more very important military secrets. We need access to them so that we can reproduce them for use on other subjects." Heero shivered. "So we need to get all the data from him that we can. Anextensive battery of tests first. Then ... well, we'll need physical access to the hardware."

The last general gave him a startled look. Wufei just looked disgusted. Relena looked like she was about to explode. She addressed him directly. "Are you the one who had Heero's passport voided?"

"Of course. We can't have him wandering around willy-nilly. We need immediate access to him at any time. He can be housed quite handily in the research center. It has some very nice accommodations in the safe wing."

Relena wondered if she'd really get in trouble for shooting him.

Wufei listened to all this with a frown. "I see. One, you insult my office by calling me young man instead of Eldest, which is my title. Two, you bury yourself even deeper by insulting my intelligence. You're no more going to treat Heero with any dignity than I could flap my arms and fly. What you suggest is tantamount to slavery. Or worse, you wish to turn him into a guinea pig. It's injustice at its worset. Anything to get your precious data, including dissecting Heero like ... like..." The elders began to look worried.

Relena interrupted Wufei as he searched for the proper word. "You're all under arrest. I'll have you removed from office. This is ... is ..."

Heero finally stepped forward. "Ridiculous. This whole thing is nothing but a bunch of power plays. By the Elders against Chang Wufei. By the military against Miss Peacecraft. By the scientific community against the military. And Wufei and I are caught in the middle." He looked at the generals in a way that made them shiver. Wufei backed him up with a glare of his own. "If you continue to irritate me, Master Chang, or Lady Relena, I'll be sitting on the foot of your bed."

Wufei cleared his throat. He had produced a .10 mm from inside his robes. "Not if I get angry enough to shoot them right now." The elders let out a concerted gasp. This was not what they had expected. Wufei gave them all a grim look. "This is what I am. I am not a pacifist.I believe in direct action. Take note."

Heero cast a grim smirk over his shoulder, then Trowa stepped forward. "As to taking any information or prototypes from Heero. I wouldn't advise it. All the patents, copyrights and pertinent developmental data belong to WEI in the person of Quatre Raberba Winner. Any attempts to utilize, copy, disburse or other wise interfere with the enhancements, property, person or intellect of Heero Yuy, sometimes referred to as Pilot 01, test subject J-x1 or 'the boy' will be referred to the appropriate legal body of WEI to be dealt with in the harshest manner the law allows. In other words, mess with him and you'll be sleeping in the streets. Do I make myself clear?"

One of the scientists just didn't know when to give up. "But you don't understand,the contributions that his enhancements could make to science are indescribable. You must allow us to continue our research."

Trowa looked at the military group and gave a soft sigh. "Please contain him. All the, so called, enhancements are thoroughly documented. That documentation and all the researchbased upon them belong in toto to WEI. Any outside researchisin breach of the patent laws. Do you understand?"

Now the generals were all satisfied. The leader stepped forward to say, "As long as someone is doing the research and the military will benefit from it we don't care who's doing it. We're out of the loop somehow. I'll check into what exactly went on. We don't need trouble with Clan Chang or WEI. All we want is the benefit of the research in limb replacement, regeneration and some other things. Things that we want for the benefit of retired soldiers who were wounded in action and need the results of that research to recover." He bowed to Relena and Wufei. "I apologize for any misunderstanding on our part. I'll personally look into what happened. Excuse me. Gentleman?" He gathered up the two other generals by eye and bowed again. The other two generals gave Wufei relieved looks, bowed and followed him to the doors. They all bowed again and left, leaving the scientists to get themselves out the doors as best they could.

One just rolled his eyes and addressed Heero. "I think my colleague has become somewhat fanatical in his desire to continue research into one of his pet projects. I ... believe that he might even be a bit unstable. Excuse me. I am going to follow the good example of the military gentlemen and distance myself from this whole fiasco. Excuse me. I'll be going now. ... um ... do I bow or what?"

Wufei glanced and Relena who announced in a rather smug tone of voice. "You should ask Heero's pardon, bow and get yourself out the door as quickly as you can. I do believe that there's still an explosion imminent."

Wufei pinned the scientist with such a cold, aloof stare that he finally realized that he had somehow annoyed the Eldest of the Elders. So he began to babble, hoping to retrieve the irretrievable.

"Don't you see? If WEI keeps control of all the research, the benefits will all come through WEI. That's just unacceptable. The profits to be made are enormous but WEI will sell most of the units at cost or even give them away. Why should they get all the profit and ..." he stopped talking when a bullet missed his head by inches.

Heero and Trowa didn't even flinch but Relena let out a squeak of surprise. The elders all gasped and some of them flinched.

"Silence! I have had enough. Lady Relena is right. You are under arrest. You will be turned over to Preventers for prosecution. I believe we can make solicitation of industrial espionage stick as well as slaving and theft of intellectual properties. I'm sure the WEI people can come up with more." Wufei nodded to Trowa and Heero. "Please get that out of my audience chamber, the smell is starting to get to me."

Relena held a tiny scrap of lace under her nose and raised one eyebrow. The scientist finally realized that he was in real trouble and started backing away. Trowa caught one arm and Heero the other. Wufei issued orders that made the elders twitch, this was not what they wanted. This boy was obviously very competent to rule, a thing they didn't want. They wanted a puppet that they could control for the 'good' of the clan. Wufei was obviously not it.

Duo moaned, he wanted Heero, he hurt all over. Then a familiar face loomed over him.

"Zechs. Hey. Any news from Heero?"

"Sorry, not yet. There seems to be some sort of trouble with his passport. Relena is working on clearing it up right now. I got an email from her. She's not a happy princess just now."

"Tell. I'm so bored that even gossip about her is welcome. And I miss my dog. Damn. Poor little thing probably thinks she's been abandoned."

"Well, that I can tell you about. Her handler sent me, or rather you, but I've been answering your mail for now. Anyway, he sent a note that she's fine, is obviously missing you and wants to know when you're going to send for her."

Duo sighed. "It has only been ... what? A week?" Zechs nodded. "It seems like longer. Can she come up here? Is there some sort of quarantine she's got to go through?"

Zechs shrugged. "I'm not sure. Give me a sec. I'll check."

He dragged his computer out of its thigh pocket and settled it on Duo's bed side tray. He tapped on the keyboard and grumbled. The tray wasn't quite large enough for it and the CPU. He juggled things around for a while then settled to work.

Duo looked over his shoulder as best he could then grumbled, "I don't know why you don't use a frog. A full sized keyboard is a real nuisance. I wish ... well, you know the old saying."

Zechs glanced over his shoulder. "I know a frog would be better but I haven't had time to learn how to use one. How's the motion in your hands?"

Duo grinned. "Hands are fine and I can feel my feet, wiggle my toes even. I just can't walk yet. Legs won't bear my weight. But the therapist is ecstatic. He says that, once I'm out of nul, it won't take me long to recover fully. I'm looking forward..." he made a face. "Therapy with that bulldog is going to be such fun."

Zechs laughed then went back to his mail. He worked for a while, switching back and forth between several windows.

"Ah-ha! Got it. Now let me see ..." Zechs trailed off for a moment but before Duo could demand an explanationhe started explaining. "Well, it seems that, since she's had all her shots and they're up to date, Binky can come up at once. Especially since I've told Customs that she's necessary to your complete recovery. I sent a mail to her handler and told him to bring her as soon as he could. I hope that meets with your approval."

Duo crowed softly in delight. "Super. I do miss her a bunch. And I bet Quatre will be glad to see her. And do you know when Trowa, Wufei and Heero, especially Heero, can come up?"

"As soon as Trowa extracts him from the clutches of the scientific community. They want to dissecthim or experiment on him. I'm not sure which. Wufei was pretty pissed when he sent the mail. He's still not a hundred percent and he kind of resents the time it's taking to peal the elders off his back. Relena's in on this too so it shouldn't take too long."

Quatre strolled in just then"What shouldn't take too long?"

"Getting Heero out of the clutches of the new mad scientists. Do you know how long it'll be before Heero and Wufei can get here?"

Quatre gave them a nasty but amused look. "Not too long. Wufei just shot at one of the scientists. And Heero threatened to visit the generals in their bedrooms. They should be here day after tomorrow, if nothing else comes up. I hope so. I miss Trowa. We haven't been apart this long since the war was over."

Duo sighed. "Man, someone sit me up a bit more. I feel weird, like I'm craning my neck, only I'm not." Zechs activated the bed controls and got Duo a bit more upright. He couldn't sit him up too much because of his back.

"Better. Now. What the hell? And fuck me sideways, scientists? Hacks, I bet."

Quatre told them all that had been going on down on Earth. Duo and Zechs both sputtered with indignation then laughter. When he was done telling the story Quatre asked, "Now what is this about Binky?"

Duo picked at his blanked until Zechs took his hand. "I miss her. Zechs just sent in a request for her handler to bring her up for me. Why?"

Quatre snarled, his phone was ringing. "Excuse me." He answered, listened then just said, "Have Trowa pick her up then."

Quatre turned to Zechs and Duo. "Well, that was the handler. He can't come into space, he gets space sick. I just told him to have Trowa pick her up. They should be here tomorrow sometime. I'll be glad to see all of them. And ... um ... we're not going back to Earth for sometime, I'm afraid. But I'm hoping that you'll all come with me to the new colony I'm building. I need all of you."

Duo grinned. "I heard about some of that here and there. I'm glad to come, Heero will too, or I miss my guess. I bet you've got great jobs for all of us. And by the way. Thanks for the Neo-Gundams. Heero bringing up Neo-Scythe?"

Quatre shook his head. "No, they're going to be brought up by their maintenance crews. Each mecha has its own crew. We don't have to maintain our own machines anymore. We've got more important things to think of."

Zechs grinned. "I want a job too. Must I beg? Please?"

Quatre smiled back, one of his gentle friendly ones. "Oh, yes, but you don't have to beg. Unless you just like to that is." They all laughed at that.

"I never heard. What the hell did you name it? And what's this about a weird government?"

Quatre settled on the edge of Duo's bed. "Well, I named it Mina Hurr, which means Freeport. And Mina Hurr is not a democracy, I own it outright. It's a free political entity in that it doesn't belong to ESUN, it has its own laws and every person on it has a contract with WEI that outlines the laws or rules and regulations of the colony. And the punishments for breaking them. I'll explain it a great deal better when everyone is here. I don't think I really want to go over it six times. Ok?"

Duo grinned. "Is it anything like what we talked about that time in the desert?"

"Yes."

"Oh, man. Interesting."

Quatre eyed the framework holding Duo motionless. It was a bed like structure but made of pipe and canvas, carefully padded. Duo was suspended by straps connected to the canvas that supported him. He looked comfortable.

"Are you ok? That looks comfortable but ..."

Duo sighed. "I'm ok. It's not uncomfortable but I'd really rather be in a bed. But they can't turn me without damaging my spine more. So the bed does it for them. The only thing I reallydon't like isthe strap across my forehead. It itches."

Quatre reached for his phone. "Do you want it off? I'll call a nurse."

Duo sighed. "No, it has to stay. I'm not supposed to get my spine out of alignment. I can move my arms but not my legs. So they don't want to take any chances. I'm going into nul grav soon. My last operation was to replace the damaged vertebrae with gundanium. It seems that it's even less chemically reactive than stainless steel so it makes great implants. Then nul grav and stem cell injections. Should be back in top form in about six weeks. Right?"

Quatre nodded. "That's right. And I've had the best physicians and surgeons in ESUN come work on you. Six weeks of healing then you can begin therapy to recover lost muscle mass. Oh, and I got a mail from Wufei. He's convinced the elders that he's not fit. He sent it to me because he knew that you'd pester him to death for the story. He wants to be here when he tells it."

There was a knock on the door then it popped open and a male nurse peeked in. "Oh, you're a wake. How do you feel? We're going to move you into nul grav as soon as you're ready."

Duo grumbled. "I'm ready now. I can get out of this damn rack you guy laughingly call a bed. Nul grav is nice. I like sleeping in it.

The nurse laughed. "You sound like a Sweeper. They're the only one's I know of who sleep in nul, just drifting. We've been holding off on putting you in nul until we were sure you wouldn't choke on your own spit."

Duo gave the man an indignant glare. "I am a Sweeper, and I have never choked on my own spit. Or gotten space sick. So let's get me out of this damn thing and into nul so I can start healing. Come on."

The nurse laughed and shook his head. "It'll be a bit. I need at least two other people who are competent in nul to get you into the harness."

Zechs snorted. "I'm qualified and so is Mr. Winner. Lets go."

"Qualified? How? I'm not taking any chances with Mr. Maxwell. He's a real war hero and he's getting the best while I'm on watch."

Zechs grinned. "Well, let me see ... does a first class Oz certification fill the bill?"

Quatre grinned gently. "Um ... Gundam Pilot 04? How's that."

The nurse grinned and said. "Well, shit. Let's get him settled."

It didn't take long and now Duo was floating in nul grav his braid snaking behind or above or something. Direction was really a matter of opinion in nul. He was held in place with a corset like band around his torso which was fastened to the walls of the small, not to say tiny room. The walls were padded and objects protruded through the padding. They were monitoring machines, small storage bins and various other comforts. It was more like a giant bed than anything else. His personal needs were taken care of by catheters for now. A fact that he had protested loudly until he was told they would be glad to take him back to his gravity bed. He declined.

"You're still sulking."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Well, ick. Catheters. Not like I'm in a suit and can't go."

Quatre smirked. "Not like you can use your legs enough to keep from drifting. Now, that would really make a mess, wouldn't it."

Duo made a face. "Still sucks."

"Actually I don't think it does. But wouldn't that be fun?" Quatre waggled his eyebrows at Duo who cracked up completely. He laughed until he had tears in his eyes.

"Man, don't make me laugh like that. It still hurts. But ... your mind is in the gutter."

Quatre shrugged. "I know." he gave a lugubrious sigh. "I drag it out, but it just falls right back down again."

Duo held out his hand and Quatre took it. They just floated in place, holding hands for a moment. Then Duo looked around.

"Kinda small. Looks like I'm not goingto be holding any balls for a while." Quatre snickered. "Say! Where did Zechs go?"

"Not sure. He said he'd be back in a bit. He also said that you should nap until then. So go to sleep."

Duo grumbled a bit but admitted that he was tired already.

Quatre fastened a velcro cuff around one ankle to keep himself from drifting into Duo or anything dangerous and drifted off as well.

Heero smirked at Wufei. They all had been summarily summoned to the council chamber for a meeting with all the elders.

"Eldest. Ahem. We feel that the councils needs will not be met by ..."

Wufei held up a hand. "Please. Spare me. I never wanted to be the eldest. I remember you from Relena's ball. I told you then that I wouldn't do it. You threatened me then. Now you see that I'm not fit. I'm to strong willed, not a puppet or a mouth piece. So, here's the deal. I know I have family money. Turn it over to me and I'll go away. You can't take the title of Eldest from me as it's hereditary, but if you don't push, I won't shove. How's that?"

The elders all nodded to each other and the spokesman announced, "Thatwill work. I'll have all the papers drawn up and you can sign them."

Wufei shook his head slowly, loose hair waving gently. "No. You'll send them to Winner. If he says yes, I'll sign them. If he sends them back amended, you better sign them. I'm going to cause trouble over it if you don't."

Heero just shifted a bit closer to Wufei, glaring around in a fashion guaranteed to cause shivers. Some of the elders actually did quiver slightly.

"If Mr. Winner amends the documents we'll have to have our legal department review them. We won't be run over either."

Wufei bowed slightly. "Therefore, I do hope the documents are fair to all. I'll sit." He did. He just sat, assuming that a chair would be there, one was. Heero sat beside him, but he made sure there was a chair for him before he started.

They sat for about twenty minutes, Wufei gazing calmly into nothing apparently meditating. Heero gazing rather blankly at the head of the council. A thing that made the poor man sweat.

When the documents were faxed back Quatre's advice to Wufei was to sign it before the elders came to their senses. Wufei signed at the red X and handed the papers to a servant.

"I'll just wait here for conformation of the transfer of funds. How long?"

"Not long. Your phone should ring momentarily."

Just then Wufei's phone began to ring. He answered with his name and waited while someone on the other end spoke then he announced, "I'll see to that later. After I consult with Mr. Winner. Thank you."He hung up and stood. "Thank you. Good-bye."

Wufei walked out followed by Heero. Trowa met them at the door and led them out to a car.

"We'll be heading straight for the space port. We'll take a shuttle to L4 to be with Duo. When he's better, we'll be going to Mina Hurr. Ok?"

Wufei just sighed. Heero gave one of his trademark grunts and they all settled back for the ride to the shuttle port.

At the port the scientists had one parting shot apparently set up before hand. The place was swarming with reporters.

"Mr. Yuy! Mr. Yuy! Any comment on your refusal to turn valuable information over to the proper authorities?"

Heero just eyed the mass for a few seconds. "Well, shit." Trowa seconded that and Wufei just glared in a cold, furious fashion that promised disaster and destruction.

Heero cleared his throat but got no results. The reporters continued to jostle each other and shout questions.

Heero rolled his tongue and whistled, loudly. "SILENCE! NOW!" The jostling people froze. "Thank you. Now, I don't have a prepared statement to give and I'm not answering a bunch of foolish questions. I don't know who leaked what and I don't care. My ... enhancements, the materials that I refused to turn over, are a part of me. I was surgically altered when I was still a small child. You can't remove any of it without either maiming me or killing me. Do you really advocate that?" the reporters all fell absolutely silent waiting for more information. "I don't know what WEI has classified as what so I'm not telling you much. If you want more information, I suggest you get in touch with the public relations department of WEI."

One reporter, a lady that Heero had dealt with before and was fond of, asked, "But we heard that all the hardware and ... stuff belonged to WEI. Patents and all."

"Yes, so by default, I belong to WEI. In the person of Quatre Raberba Winner and I'll tell you that he's very particular about how his property is treated. Now ... I'm trying to catch a shuttle to take myself, in the guise of WEI property, back to my owner. Get out of the way." And with that he just marched straight at the crowd of reporters, not caring if they got out of his way or not. Wufei and Trowa followed, trying desperately to keep straight faces.

They boarded one of the WEI private shuttles and debarked immediately, but not for L4, yet. First they were going to get Binky and their clothing and personal possessions, including the Neo-Gundams.

They stopped to pick up Neo-Wing, went on for Neo-Scythe and ended at Zechs's estate to pick up Binky and their possessions.

It didn't really take all that long. The Neo-Gundams were walked onto a giant transport and sent on to the colony. The servants had packed for them so all they really had to do was gather up an ecstatic Binky and reboard the shuttle for L4.

Trowa found himself in charge of the little dog, which made sense. He settled her in a special carrier that would help the tiny dog withstand the pressures and stress of lift off. She whined a bit then settled down, sensing that it was useless to beg to be let out.

The poor dog was very unhappy on lift off. She couldn't breath and couldn't understand why she was so heavy. Luckily the lift off didn't last very long so she didn't suffer too much. The moment they were in low orbit Trowa took her out of the carrier and petted her, soothing her fear. He gave her some treats and settled her in the seat next to him. Her little harness was attached to the seat belt to keep her in position. The fact that they were now in nul grav made this a necessity. Binky wasn't best pleased with this, not understanding that she would drift away without it.

Trowa kept a hand on her for a bit then left her to her own devices, realizing that she would soon discover the facts of nul grav for herself. She was not a stupid dog by any means.

Binky licked at Trowa's hand then tried to hop down to the floor. But there's no floor in nul grav so she shot off the seat in the direction of her push. Her harness caught her before she was more than a few inches away from her spot. She yelped in fear and struggled until Trowa reached out, took her in one hand and put her on his lap. This time she was happy to stay where Trowa put her.

The slight push of transition from low Earth orbit to the L4 trajectory was barely noticeable, just a firm shove in an unidentifiable direction. All the pilots could feel it and they felt when the auto pilot was activated.

The pilot's cheerful voice on the PA announced that they had now started the 'real' trip to L4. Everyone either winced or groaned. The guy sounded about ten. Wufei snorted and wished Zechs was there to laugh with him. Trowa smiled at the sound of the man's voice, it reminded him of Quatre the first time they met. Heero just sighed, he was really worried about Duo. No one was really passing on any information. He was going to read Zechs the riot act when he saw him.

A few minutes later the pilot himself appeared in the passenger cabin. He snapped to and saluted. Wufei gave him a rather sloppy return salute and went back to reading. Trowa just sighed and nodded at him. Heero just glared, he hated to be saluted. None of this seemed to bother the young man.

"Well, well, glad to see no one is space sick or anything." His laugh was forced and false. "Well, well, I'll just get myself a drink and join you if I may."

Wufei looked up and caught Heero's eye. Quatre wouldn't allow a captain that drank so Captain Cute wouldn't be drinking an alcoholic beverage but something was up.

Heero got up and followed the captain into the small galley. He was pouring himself a glass of orange juice while the steward looked on frowning.

"You know Mr. Winner doesn't like it when we bother the passengers. You better not foul up. This bunch isn't a group of businessmen to be impressed with your captain'sbars. Kevin Anderson you're going to get into major trouble."

"I'm not. Did you see them? They're all no older than my little brother. A little 'take the starry eyed boys into the cockpit' and I'm all set with their fathers. The kids will eat it up. And that dog? Did you see? Cute, but really."

Heero eased back into the main cabin and sat down with Wufei and Trowa. He explained what was going on quickly and they made their plans.

Now the captain wasn't a bad man, just foolish. But annoying a gundam pilot was a dangerous thing at the best of times. Annoying one when he was upset anyway was not a good thing at all. And three of them? Well we'll just say he really isn't suicidal.

Trowa nearly fell over, impossible as that sounds in 0-G, when Heero told him what was going on. Wufei just scowled and muttered something about injustice and dishonor. Heero poked him in the shoulder and announced, "No ranting. Planning. Now."

So they put their heads together and came up with a plan to teach their brown-nosed captain a lesson.

It started out with getting themselves in to the pilot'scompartment. That was easy enough, all Trowa had to do was give the man a wide eyed look and ask. Wufei nearly had a fit. No one was supposed to be in the forward compartment except crew.

Heero poked him in the side and announced firmly. "Stop. The whole idea of this is to teach the man a lesson. One that, hopefully will keep him from getting fired. Stop fizzling like a wet firecracker."

Wufei stopped sputtering and looked at Heero like he'd turned purple or something. "When did you get a sense of humor?"

"I've had it for a while. Just didn't use it much. Got a bit rusty. Now, remember the plan and try ... I said, try, to look your age, and innocent. Ok?"

Wufei gave Heero such a look of wide eyed innocence that Heero crossed his eyes back, making Trowa laugh merrily.

The steward announced that the captain was ready for them, backed by the captain himself. Captain Anderson nodded and smiled in an ingratiating way. He opened the cabin door and motioned to them to enter. Trowa handed Binky over to the steward, telling him, "Please take care of her for a while."

They entered the forward cabin and immediately began touching everything. Heero positioned himself over the pilot'schair, floating upside down. Wufei hooked one toe in the navigators chair arm and began apparently questioning him closely. Trowa eased himself into the empty copilot'sseat and just watched for a moment.

Captain Anderson reacted exactly as they thought he would. "Hey! Please don't touch anything. If you turn off the auto pilot by mistake, we could be in trouble."

Wufei turned to him, black eyes wide and 'awed' "Really? That's funny. I wouldn't think we'd be allowed in if we could damage something. Isn't that unsafe?"

Heero jabbed a finger at the autopilot button. "That it? That the one? What happens if it gets turned off? Can we try?"

"No! Don't touch it! Please, settle down. I'm sure your parents wouldn't like for you to damage something."

Heero examined his fingernails while clinging to an overhead grip. "I'm sure my father or mother would have an opinion about that, but since I never actually met them, I wouldn't know."

Wufei nodded abruptly. "My father was very strict, insisted on absoluteobedience to rules and regulations. Too bad you never met him."

Trowa snorted. " 'Fei, play nice. Yuy, check trajectory. And where's the copilot?"

Captain Anderson was nearly wringing his hands as he tried to keep up with the ping-ponging questions and actions. "The copilot called in sick at the last minute and we couldn't find anyone else to fill in. Mr. Winner said that it was very important that we take off on schedule so I just went ahead. I can handle it. The copilot is only really needed in case of emergency."

Trowa finally managed to reach the emergency equipment test switch, situated between the pilot and copilot seats. He flicked it and watched as the captain nearly had a melt down.

The emergency equipment test was just that, it went through every bit of emergency equipment and sent a short current through it. This tested that it was ready to activate at need. It also set off the warning siren, klaxon or bell that announced that specific emergency. One after the other.

The captain yelped as the first claxon went off. And the next. The navigator meanwhile was nearly spastic trying not to laugh his head off. He'd been warning the man about his activities for a while now and he wasn't afraid of any accident. He'd recognized the three at once and decided to keep his information to himself. Wufei had answered his few whispered questions and he was content, and amused.

Captain Anderson frantically tried to get three energetic, knowledgeable young people to quit punching buttons and flipping switches. Since the shuttle was still on autopilot, a button all three were very careful not to touch, nothing happened except lights started flashing as the systems tested themselves preparing to activate. Heero kepta careful eye on the CPU usage meter so they didn't over load anything. When the meter reached 30 he announced, "Ok, guys, thirty percent, cut it out." Wufei quit messing with the navigation controls and Trowa flicked the switch that would interrupt the emergency equipment testing.

Trowa nodded to Wufei who asked the navigator to get in touch with WEI Central. They were connected with Quatre at once.

"Quat, love, how's Duo?"

Quatre smiled, "He's out of intensive care and in his recovery room. But that's not what this is about, is it?"

Trowa smiled back at his lover and said, "No. Would you mind telling your captain who we are? He seems to be laboring under the misconception that we're children of executives or something."

Quatre glanced at Captain Anderson and shook his head. "I've been hearing rumors about your conduct, seems they weren't exaggerated. So, let me introduce Gundam Pilots 01, 03, and 05. Not children any more than I am. Now, the next time I hearof your sycophantic foolishness getting in the way of your job you'll lose it. Understand?" Quatre's glare wasn't up to Heero's standards but it was damn close. Captain Anderson gulped and nodded. "And the next time you take off without a copilot, I'll have you grounded."

The captain didn't look like he knew whether to salute, which looked silly in 0-G, or just stand shaking in his boots. He decided to suck it up and act like a man. "I see. Well ... ahem... I'll do better. I'm sorry. I better see to getting things back under control."

Quatre requested him to leave the cabin for a moment or two. When he did Quatre smiled then sighed. "I miss you, Trowa, when will you get here?"

Trowa consulted his watch. "Another eight hours or so. I miss you too."

Heero floated over to hang inverted to Quatre'spoint of view. "How's Duo?"

"Duo will be fine. The last surgery was a success. Now all he needs is the stem cell therapy. After he's completely healed he'll have to do some physical therapy to bring him back up to standards. Other than that, he's good."

Heero sighed. "Thank goodness. Physical therapy, huh? That's going to be fun."

Wufei winced. Everyone knew Duo's opinion of that. He really didn't like it. And his objections were rather ... loud. If swearing in three languages at the top of his not inconsiderable lungs could be called just loud.

Heero grumbled, "Well, I guess I'll have to take that over. He'll just bitch like a ... well, Sweeper." Heero grinned at the other two. "And you'll both just have to help me. He likes tai chi and that'll help with over all conditioning. And yoga too. Trowa, he's always wanted to learn to walk a wire. Teaching him that will definitely help with balance. Ok?"

Wufei nodded but Trowa groaned. "I really need to spend more time with Quatre. But I'll be glad to help when it's time."

Heero grinned. "Quatre won't mind, it'll give him a chance to ogle your butt."

Trowa let out an indignant squawk. "Hey! That's not fair. Duo drools over you when you just stand."

Wufei snickered. "You're both pitiful."

Heero turned to him with a grin. "Yeah? Like you and Zechs are different?"

Wufei looked a bit indignant when he announced, "I'll have you know that we have a dignified relationship."

"Sure you do." Trowa aimed a smirkat Wufei. "Zechs is a screamer, or you are. And loud. Not that I'm objecting. It's entertaining. And I've learned some new Chinese words. Only I don't think they're fit for mixed company."

Wufei aimed a swat at Trowa who just laughed and allowed himself to drift out of the chair. Heero motioned to the door saying that they'd better let the crew get back to their jobs.

Heero returned to his seat while Wufei chose to lay down on one of the fold out beds. Curtains pulled around it provided some privacy and quiet. Trowa went into the small office in the back to work on some papers that Quatre had sent him, taking a retrieved Binky with him. The little dog was ecstatic and more than happy to settle in Trowa's lap.

Wufei woke to an alarm going off. He wondered muzzily if it was some sort of joke, but realized that no one would pull a stunt like that. He scrambled out of bed, pulling his still healing incision as he did so. He hissed softly and then straightened his clothing.

He kicked off and drifted quickly to the forward compartment. Heero was already there and Trowa was crowding his heels.

"What's going on?" Heero turned his head, Captain Anderson was frantically punching buttons.

Trowa announced, "My connection was severed right in the middle of a conversation with one of my aids. What happened?"

Wufei eased into the auxiliary seat, started checking readouts and running a check list.

Captain Anderson turned from his fiddling. "Main computer is out. Don't know why. I need help. Right now."

Heero didn't bother to glance at Trowa or Wufei, he knew their answer withoutasking the question. "You got it. Three gundam pilots at your service. Now, first I need access to your chair. Permission to change please."

Captain Anderson just vacated the chair to allow Heero access to his instruments. Heero checked several readouts then pulled the onboard computer keyboard to him on its gimbal he entered a command and waited while the computer tried to give him some information. When the computer screen turned blue and then shut down, he swore.

"What?"

"We're fucked. Blue screen of death."

Trowa turned from his place at the navigator'sstation. The navigator had gone back into the passengers'compartment happily yielding his position to a more knowledgeable person. This didn't mean he was incompetent, just smart. He and Captain Anderson were just glorified bus drivers and he knew it. He didn't want to die from pride so he got out of the way.

Heero nodded to Trowa. "Tro, you're at the helm. You're going to have to go manual until I get the computer back on line. Got it."

Trowa eased into the copilots chair and nodded. "Got it. Manual pilot on line."

Trowa took over control of the shuttle allowing Heero to take the auto pilot off line as well as the main computer. All communications were also out as it all went through the main computer.

Heero pulled the mother board and started to examine it, but it really wasn't necessary the smell of burnt plastic and copper wafted through the cabin. Wufei wrinkled his nose.

"How bad?"

"Fried. Completely fried. Spares?" Heero looked at Captain Anderson.

"We've got spares in the back storage. What do you need?"

Heero pulled a clipboard from a storage clip on the wall. "Write."

Captain Anderson wrote as Heero pulled parts and examined them for damage. When he came to thecommunications assemblage he found the source of the problem. Someone had patched in a commercial radio link and patched it to the wrong port.

"This port was never intended to carry a signal of this strength. Who did this?"

Captain Anderson turned an amazing shade of scarlet. "I did. I wanted to hear soccer games. What's wrong with that?"

Heero just pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ok. And what made you think you are qualified to touch the computers, much less alter them?"

"Well, all I had to do was plug in a thing."

Heero just shook his head. "Never mind, just bring the parts."

Heero worked on stripping out the last of the bad parts while he waited for the spares.

Wufei finally managed to bring the secondary communications board into play and got hold of control central. He explained the situation and got a standby controller on line to assist as needed.

Trowa was out of the loop as his hands were full piloting by instruments.

"Two hours to turn around. I'll need course corrections and fuel consumption data."

Wufei said, "Gotit."

Heero just kept working on the onboard. They had to have it fixed before they had to start decelerating for L4 orbit. It wasn't a case of pulling to the side of the road until they fixed it, they had to or they couldn't do the computations necessary to adjust their acceleration/deceleration and compensate for fuel usage. As well as do all the other computations necessary to match and dock at the colony.

Captain Anderson came back with a very white face. "No parts. I can't find any of them. They're all supposed to be in one of the storage compartments in the far back of the shuttle baggage compartment. They're not there. It's empty."

Heero looked up with wide eyes. "Oh, fuck."

Wufei got on the 'horn' and started talking. Trowa ignored them all, concentrating on his controls.

"Shit, there's no way to patch us into any sort of external computer system. Between time lag and the fact that the mother board is fried, it just can't be done."

Heero pulled his personal computer out of his pocket. He'd have to sacrifice it to fix the main computer. He hated to do it as it was the first thing he'd had of his own for a long time. "Damn. Oh, well, can't be helped. Maybe I can put it back together after." He took out the bits he thought he'd need and tried to get them into the computer. It didn't work. Commercial parts and over the counter private parts weren't compatible. He sighed and rubbed his face. "Well, fuck. We're so done."

Wufei glanced over his shoulder. "How bad?"

"Parts aren't compatible. So, what next?"

Trowa sighed. "I wish Duo was here. He can do all this in his head."

"All of it? I know he can do course corrections. But could he keep up with all of this?"

Wufei shook his head. "He can do each thing. I've seen him. But I doubt that he can do all of it. I can do fuel consumption. If we ..." he trailed off, thinking hard.

Heero waited for Wufei to finish thinking. He knew that they were in real trouble and had few ideas how to get them out of it.

While he waited, Heero decided to go back and check for the errant parts himself. What he found was depressing, all the emergency equipment was either missing or in deplorable shape. Heero wondered how a WEI vessel could have gotten into such shape.

He got with Captain Anderson and flatly asked him what the hell was going on with the ship. "This is ridiculous, where are the parts. Where's the emergency equipment. This is crap! There are only six suits for the whole ship. That's not enough for the ships compliment! Damn! How the hell did this ship get into this condition?"

Captain Anderson was up front with Heero. "I just took over this ship two days ago. The former captain quit. I'm not sure why."

Heero just nodded. "Well, he's fucked us. That's for sure. I bet he sold everything he could sneak off the ship. We don't have enough suits for the whole crew. We've got enough for us, but if the ship was carrying a full compliment of crew and passengers we'd lose most of them. I want you to sit down right now and start inventorying everything we have that's useful. Ok?"

Anderson just nodded, throwing over his shoulder as he left. "Call me Kevin."

After checking on Binky and telling the steward that he was in charge of the dog until further notice, Heero returned to the front. "We've got enough suits for all of us. One size fits all." He sat down.

Wufei turned to look at him. "And?"

"And ... nothing. Seems the former captain stripped out the ship. And Kevin was too busy sucking up to check the ship over. He just took it over two days ago. Wonder why the steward said he'd been warned about smoozing before."

"I see. Well, we need to leave that for later. In fact, I'm not getting involved in WEI's internal woes at all. I'll see if I can't get hold of Duo. We'll have to do something. If the time lag isn't too bad maybe we can ..." Wufei rubbed his temples grumbling.

Duo looked up from the book he was reading. It wasn't paper. Paper wasn't really available on colony unless you brought it up. Duo couldn't really see the use in paper books, he liked an eReader better.

"Duo, there's trouble." Zechs didn't bother with niceties, he got right to the point. "I'm going to patch in from cencom. The shuttle is in trouble. I'll let Heero tell you the details."

While he was talking Zechs plugged in a portable view screen and attached it to the tree like device that kept all Duo's things tethered within reach. He turned it on and positioned it so Duo could see it.

Duo's back had been damaged at the junction between T12 and L1 so he had plenty of motion in his arms, his legs were nearly paralyzed but recovering nicely. They'd found that the near paralyzation of Duo's arms had been due to some swelling in the entire spinal column due to the trauma. When the swelling caused by the trauma and subsequent surgeries went down, Duo was only paralyzed from below the cut.

Duo pulled the monitor into position and waited while Heero explained exactly what was going on. He didn't bother with swearing doom and disaster on the former and present captains, that was a given, he just waited for more.

"I'm going to ping you to see what the lag time is. If it's over three seconds round trip we might as well forget it. We'll have to wait for rescue, not something I want to do. I don't like the idea of drifting around out here. We're just on the fringes of an asteroid belt. Don't want some little fucker poking a hole in us."

Wufei pinged the connection, sending an audio signal to Duo's station which immediately sent it back.

"Good. Less than two seconds. 1.86. Got it in one. That new system Quatre had installed in the ships has enough power to send a good signal and fast. So..."

They exchanged information quickly, checking to see if the plan was going to work. It was.

Heero settled in the pilot'sseat and took over the controls. Heero would pilot and send navigation data to Duo who would do the calculations. Wufei would do the fuel consumption calculations and Trowa would adjust the fuel fed into the engines.

Captain Anderson stuck his head in the door and asked why they didn't just have cencom do the job. Trowa, taking a short break from his piloting duties, explained that they just weren't set up for it. They'd insisted that the shuttle brake and drift until someone could pick them up, in four days. As far as the three were concerned that wasn't an option. They wanted to be back with their lovers. And they didn't want to hear the teasing thatthey'd get, imagine; three gundam pilots having to be rescued. No.

Duo started asking about data. Heero sent him numbers, numbers and more numbers. Gage readings, meter readings, altitude, attitude, and on and on. Duo swam in 0G and spouted numbers back. Corrections to speed, attitude, latitude, longitude, thrust. He listened to the results of his figures and sent more corrections. Wufei and Trowa worked in concert to keep the fuel going to the right engines from the right tanks. It wouldn't do to have the shuttle out of balance when they tried to dock it.

They did the first set of corrections and settled back to wait until they were ready to go into orbit around the L4 cluster. Then they did it all again. Cencom contacted them and told them that the medical colony had refused to allow them to dock until their computers were repaired so they had to go into orbit around it. Heero swore, and Trowa and Wufei frankly sulked. It was going to take two days.

Duo pushed the monitor aside and swore. "Damn them! I want Heero. Don't they know that any one of us could dock that thing blind and flaming out? Fuck!"

Zechs just smiled a bit. "I'm sure they do. But if you make an exception for one, people don't understand why you can't make one for them too. So, we wait. Don't you think I really can't wait to get my hands on Wufei?I miss my grumpy dragon more than I ever thought possible."

Duo grinned rather sadly at Zechs. "We're both pitiful, aren't we? Oh, well. They'll be here soon, right?"

"Right." Zechs took a brush out of his pocket. "Trade you brush outs?"

Duo nodded. "That'd be nice, my braid is sort of messy." he gave Zechs an accessing look. "Yours is too. Wouldn't do for us to greet the guys all fly away."

Zechs pulled the band off the end of Duo's braid and unraveled it. Duo's hair had grown at least six inches since they'd been friends. It was now down to his waist. Zechs brushed it out carefully, it was silky and soft.

"Needs a wash. I'll make arrangements tomorrow."

"Thanks. Braid it tight will you?"

"Didn't think you liked it tight."

Duo shrugged. "Don't usually, braiding it tight reminds me of the war, but zero G makes it staticy."

Zechs braided Duo's hair looser at the scalp than at the end. Then he put a band at the end and another half way up.

"There, that ought to hold it. Do me?"

Duo snickered. "Rather do Heero, if you don't mind."

"My hair, brat."

Duo sighed and started brushing, grumbling, "Slave driver."

Duo fixed Zechs's hair the same way Zechs had done his. He noticed that Zechs's hair was looking much better than when they'd first met. "What are you using on you hair? It looks great."

"Special shampoo. Wufei compounded it for me. He's really good at herbs and things."

Duo yawned. "I know. And poetry. Have you heard any of his?"

"Mmmmm. It's very good. I can't manage more than doggerel. I'm tired. The stress is getting to me. Mind if I crash here?"

"Suit yourself. I'm going to go to sleep too. They'll wake us when the time comes?"

"I set an alarm. Lights?"

Everything in the room was keyed to Duo's voice so he just said, "light off." and curled up to sleep.

Theyslept, drifting gently at the end of their tethers.

Heero didn't allow the repair crew to do the job, he did it himself. The men all knew intellectually who Heero, Trowa and Wufei were, it was just meeting them in person was – different. They looked their age, but they were much more than three nineteen year old boys. They were seasoned soldiers with a combined experience that made any four of them look like babies. They handed Heero his parts and got out of the way. It didn't hurt that all three of them glowered like caged tigers.

Wufei unwrapped each part, handed it to Trowa and waited while he tested it with the equipment the repair crew brought. Heero installed it and tested it again. The repair crew watched in awe as it took them half an hour to do a job that would have taken them three. The most time consuming job was the reprogramming, it had to be done just exactly right. The boot chips were handed over and a huge book that had the specifications the boot wanted. The information that identified the ship. Heero didn't take it.

"Excuse me. You need this for the boot data."

"No I don't. Look up the fucker yourself. I'll be loading the programs."

The man opened the book and found the first page of the information. He eyed the complicated strings of numbers and sighed. This was not going to be fun.

"Ok, I found it."

"If it will make you feel better, check me on the secondary screen. But don't bother me."

The tech's reply was a very intelligent, "huh?"

Heero patched the keyboard into the secondary view screen then started typing. He fed the data into the computer as fast as it would take it. His flashing fingers never hesitated for a moment. It took him one third of the time it would have taken anyone else and it only took him that long because the computer couldn't take the data as fast as he could type. The tech gave up after he'd checked the first few strings. Heero was right, he was fast and all the tech could do was look on in envy.

"Well, shit."

When they docked they were met by a crew of reporters, camera men and security. The Inter-Colony Transport Regulation Department sent a team as well. Heero nodded to the reporters.

"If one of them gets in my way, I'm hittin' 'im. I'm going to Duo, now."

Trowa attracted the reporters attention simply by walking into the midst of them, a retrieved Binky under his arm. Wufei approached the head of the ICTRD and bowed.

"I am Chang Wufei. I'm afraid that any attempt to detain Mr. Yuy will be met with ... resistance. He is very anxious to get to his companion. Mr. Maxwell is in the spinal injuries hospital. I'll do my best to answer all your questions. Please. Is there somewhere we can sit? I'm afraid I'm also recovering from surgery and standing for a great length of time will not be possible."

The head of the team introduced himself as James Franklin and pointed to a door in an inconspicuous corner. "We'll go in there. It's a small lounge and perfect for our requirements. I'll leave one of my people to tell Mr. Barton where we are. I hope he doesn't take long. Mr. Winner is anxious as well."

Trowa didn't spend much time with the reporters, he gave a generalized public statement then announced that as further information became available they'd be given it. Then he just walked away.

The agent caught him at the edge of the grumbling crowd.

"I told you that there was nomore information available at this time. Please don't bother me any more." Binky barked at the man.

The agent showed Trowa his badge and pointed to the door. "Your partner is through there. We're doing a general debriefing as quickly as we can. We'll check the shuttle out, in fact, we have a crew doing that right now. Then there will be summonses issued and probably the captain will be arrested. How he managed to take off twice without the proper equipment is beyond me. Well, this way."

Trowa just followed him into the lounge. He flopped down, easing his long legs under a coffee table so no one would trip over them. He was offered coffee and a sandwich by someone. He took them gratefully and munched resignedly, feeding bits to Binky, as he waited for the officer to be finished with Wufei. He noticed that Wufei looked very tired and a bit too pale.

Wufei was sipping at some tea but he finally put it down with a grimace. It was really foul; over brewed and tepid.

Trowa jumped slightly as a door opened somewhere behind him. "Tro, love, come away." Quatre put his arms around Trowa and hugged him.

"Can't. The ICTRD wants to interview me. I wish I could just write a mission report and be done with it."

Quatre glanced at Wufei, who was visibly drooping by now. "Thank you gentlemen. That will be all." Quatre suddenly went from a kind, gentle young man to a stony faced executive, a Power to Be Reckoned With. One of the debriefers started to argue but shut up when he realized who was speaking. "Mr. Barton and Chang Shidoshi will take written questions and will submit a written report. I think you'll have all your questions answered, just not now. Excuse us."

Quatre motioned to an almost invisible aid who held the doors open for the debriefing team. They filed out grumbling coming from some of the lower ranking members, sensitive about their authority being usurped. An older and wiser man just hushed him. "Shut up. Those guys will send a report that'll knock your socks off. Gundam Pilot reports are actually used as examples in the training manual. Come on."

Quatre sat in Trowa's lap and proceeded to kiss him breathless. They kissed and cuddled for a few moments then broke it off by mutual consent. They didn't want Wufei to feel left out.

"Well, are you glad to see me or is that a nightstick in your pocket?" Trowa just laughed softly.

"Not fair. Come on. Let's get Wufei to Zechs before that blond pain in my ass kills us both."

Wufei blinked for a moment. "Pain in the ass? Why. And, do come on, I'm really tired."

Quatre smiled at Wufei. "He's done nothing, but whine about being separated from you since he got here. He misses you something awful." He led them through the door he'd entered by while he was talking.

There was a golf cart like conveyance right outside the door. It was electric and could carry six people, two in the front driver seat and four in the back. They piled in and Quatre drove away, Binky barking at the whine.

Heero just flagged someone down and asked where the spinal column injury area was. He was pointed to a large colony map and told to punch the name of the patient into the central computer and it would make him a map. That was when Heero realized that the whole colony was a gigantic hospital.

He did as the man suggested and, when the directions were ready, down loaded them into his computer. He put it on audio and keyed the first set of directions.

It didn't take him long to find Duo.

"Love! Duo!" Heero launched himself into the room. He pulled himself to a halt by the 'christmas tree' and gazed at Duo with his heart in his eyes. He wanted to hug him, but he was afraid of hurting him.

Duo held out his arms. "It's ok. You can hug me. Just, not to hard. Please."

Heero carefully put his arms around Duo and held him, careful not to squeeze him.

"Love, I missed you so much. So much." Heero realized that, drifting as they were he could do something he'd always wanted to, he put his head on Duo's shoulder and snuggled up to him. It didn't work in gravity as they were just different enough in height that it was awkward standing up. He could pretend a bit now.

Duo kissed the top of Heero's head. "Good?"

"Hmmm." and suddenly Heero's shoulders were heaving with silent sobs. Duo just held and caressed Heero, rubbing circles on the small of his back to comfort him.

"Sshhh. It's alright. I'm ok. A bit battered but I'll get better." Duo continued to hug and comfort Heero, making all those nonsense noises that work so well.

Heero finally sniffled himself to a shuddering sigh. "I'm sorry ..."

"Shut up. Don't be stupid. It's ok."

"Some Perfect Soldier. Big girl."

Duo kissed him until he sighed again, this time in contentment.

They just drifted for a bit then Duo got Heero a bulb of water and announced, "Better drink it all or you'll have a headache."

Heero sucked on the straw sticking out of it until he'd managed half of it. He hooked a foot into the tree and looked around for the first time. "Well, this is cozy. Like a big ... I'm not sure what."

Duo snorted. "It's not that bad. Everything I need is in reach and the staff is really nice. Where's Wufei?"

"I'm not sure. He and Trowa stayed behind to handle the clean up."

Duo blinked for a second. "Oh, who'd you kill?"

Heero laughed. "No one, baka. The main computer crash, due to the captains meddling with it?"

Duo nodded. "I was wondering about that. There was a real lack of explanations. The staff didn't know anything and just said you'd explain when you got here. So ... spill."

So Heero explained the rest ending up, "And there were no spare parts, or enough suits. It was a mess but not a real life threatening one. We had enough supplies to keep us going until someone could come out and get us."

"Yeah, I can really see that happening. We'd never hear the end of it."

"Too true. But I'm bushed. I'm going to just hug you and sleep. Ok?"

Duo gave Heero a tender look. "Sounds great to me. Come here."

So they tethered Heero to the tree and wrapped themselves in a special blanket to keep from drifting apart, and went to sleep.

Zechs was pacing in the gravity entry way if the facility. He knew that Wufei was on his way but he felt like it was taking forever. He turned with military precision, braid snapping behind him.

"You're going to wear a grove in the floor."

Zechs spun around and just held out his arms, Wufei rushed into them and nearly collapsedagainst Zechs's broad chest.

"I missed you such a very great deal. Never go away from me again. If you do, I'll ... I'll..."

Zechs looked down at his love and smiled. "Tie me to the bed. Spank me til I beg? Sounds good to me."

"Pervert."

"You know it."

Zechs bent down to kiss Wufei. A long, slow, passionate kiss that made passers by whistle or smile. Wufei couldn't have cared less. All he wanted was to rest in Zechs's arms.

"Tired? You look too pale. Come on. I've got a room."

"Good. Because I suddenly feel like I'm going to fall over." Wufei staggered slightly.

Zechs just scooped him up in strong arms and carried him the few feet to the escalator that led to the floor above. He keyed the room door and walked straight to the bed. He put Wufei down and just looked at him for a moment.

"If you ever scare me like that again, you'll be the one with a burning butt. Got me?"

Wufei gazed at Zechs with wide, adoring eyes. "Got it. I swear ... well, I won't promise something I can't guarantee." Wufei heaved a tired sigh.

"Just ... take care of yourself. Tired?" Wufei nodded. "We'll just sleep. How's that?"

Zechs started pulling Wufei's soft slippers off his feet as Wufei nodded. He reached for the line of frogs that went down the front of his over robe. Wufei was fully asleep before Zechs got to the third one. He pulled off Wufei's clothing leaving him in nothing but his loose trousers. Then he stripped himself down to his shorts. He crawled into the bed and pulled Wufei against his side. He was soon asleep too.

The next morning a quick flurry of calls got them together in a small restaurant that catered to zero G patients and families. Quatre had made quick arrangements for a private banquet room.

So all six of them were together again. Quatre beamed around the table with evident pride.

"Well. This is so nice. I'm so happy."

Duo snorted eyeing Quatre's neck. "We can see that. I'm happy too, though." Heero put his arm around Duo.

Zechs pulled Wufei closer to him and handed him a bulb of juice. "Ok, Winner, what's up?I know you've got something up that sleeve of yours."

Quatre smiled. "I want you all to come to my new colony. I need more people I can delegate to and you know the colonies aren't as bad about age as Earth is."

Heero gazed into Duo's eyes. Duo smiled and nodded. Wufei and Zechs had already discussed it. All four nodded to Quatre and watched as he hugged Trowa in delight.

Duo summed it up easily. "Man, this is great. We're off Earth. We've got jobs that we're qualified for. Our suits are coming home too. I can't wait. What a great way to start Building a New Life."


End file.
